Kitty Malone, the Weasley Boys, and the Marauder's Map (Completed!)
by fanfictionconnection.wordpress
Summary: Fred and George Weasley pull off the biggest trick they've ever managed to get their hands on a map from Filch's office. But this map isn't just any ordinary map. Follow my blog www.fanfictionconnection.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One-Special Abilities

Kittianna had always known she was special. At least, she'd been told ever since she was a child just how special she was. Kittianna was a witch. But just because she was a witch, that didn't mean she was any more special than other kids. Her younger sister, Melissa, was also a witch, and her adopted parents were both magical. Magic wasn't what made Kittianna feel more special than others.

There was more to Kittianna than simply magic. Simply was a strange word to use, but she had something more. Kittianna could dream into the future.

It didn't happen very often. Sometimes what she thought was a "future dream" was simply a dream she'd had because she was excited for the coming day. Still, every once in a while, a dream of Kittianna's would come completely true.

Magic was amazing and special; though, Kittianna knew that not everyone was magical. She learned this when she was talking to the other children at a playground. Kittianna had mentioned she'd dreamed the exact event the other day, and the other children stared at her. Perhaps she'd also talked about the self-cleaning dishes.

"You're weird," one said.

"Completely crazy!" cried another.

"People don't do that," a young girl shook her head.

"I don't want to play with you anymore," they all agreed.

Sometimes, it wasn't very fun to be special at all. Since then, she never mentioned her dreams. Kittianna didn't want to feel special anymore. Simply magical was good enough for her now, but only in the magical world did she enjoy fitting in as much as she could.

She'd never told her adopted parents, Helen and Frank Habersnap, about her "future dreams," but maybe it was better that way. For all she knew, Kittianna's future dreams were not normal for magical people either. So now, she just wanted to be special through her magic, but it took a long time for it to show up.

It wasn't until she was a week or two away from the age of six that Kittianna would show her magic. She was so angry; angry because she wanted to go play with newly adopted sister Melissa, who was four at the time. But Kittianna was supposed to make the table for lunch. She didn't want to and the table and chairs lost their legs, causing a loud ruckus. The Habersnaps were delighted, but, of course, she was also scolded for not doing as she was told.

Little Kittianna was ecstatic, and went to the park after lunch that day. Melissa would have to play by herself, she'd decided. She was special again and wanted to make friends. Special people always made the best friends in the stories Helen Habersnap read to her at night.

Sadly, the park children were as cruel as always.

"You're so weird," they mumbled.

"What kind of name is Kittianna anyway?" a girl asked.

"It sounds stupid," another boy responded.

"It's just Russian," Kittianna would whimper.

"Well we're British here," the boy replied.

"Go away," the children chorused, "you aren't normal!"

"I'm special!" Kittianna cried.

"Special education maybe," an older boy laughed.

Kittianna had again been turned away for being special. Magic was not always what it was cracked up to be, she'd decided. And special was not always a good thing. After walking around the park alone for some time, Kittianna returned home. Helen Habersnap greeted her at the door with her big, fairy smile, reserved for her adopted children and husband.

"How was the park, Kittianna? Did the other children play nice?" she inquired, noticing Kittianna's sad look.

"They never do; Mom, they never do. I don't want to be special! My name is dumb, I'm dumb, and I'll never make friends!"

Helen Habersnap wrapped little Kittianna up in her thin arms, holding her close.

"You are not dumb," she said looking into Kittianna's eyes, "you are a bright little girl with a bright future ahead of you. Let me tell you a secret."

Kittianna looked up at her adopted mother, small tears staining her cheeks.

"When I was your age, the other children thought I was weird. You know what I mean?"

Kittianna nodded and waited for the rest of the story.

"But then one day, I got a letter from a school called Hogwarts. They knew I was special, and I was going to go to school with other magical and special students from all over Britain and Scotland."

Kittianna was fascinated now, and wiped her tears away with her sleeve.

"We learned all sorts of magic tricks and spells. I learned every piece of magic I know from Hogwarts."

"Do I get a Hogwarts?" Kitty asked, bewildered by the information.

"Of course you do. When you're old enough, you can go to Hogwarts and learn all sorts of magic. You'll be ten or eleven when your special letter comes by owl in July. That's when it always comes."

This brightened Kittianna's spirits, and soon she was her happy self again.

"Mom," she asked.

"Yes, my dear?"

"Is my name stupid?"

"Absolutely not!" Helen mussed her hair gently, "But we could give you a nickname if you like."

"Like Kitty-Witty? Like when Dad sends me to bed?"

"Exactly, but maybe just Kitty. How does that sound?"

Kitty loved it. She now only went by Kitty, unless she got in trouble. Because of Helen, Kitty felt special again, and maybe magic wasn't so bad, parents could do that; make you happy again when you felt like you weren't worth it.

The years went by, and Kitty was going to turn eleven on the 1st of September. The first day of July, she sat in front of the mail slot all day playing patty-cake with Melissa. Kitty was a bundle of energy and could not contain her excitement. She kept looking for the owl that would bring her letter.

"Kitty, dear," her adopted father, Frank, came around the corner, "I'm not sure if the letter will come today or later. It seems we might receive the letter by the regular postman."

"But I thought it would be an owl…" Kitty complained.

"I'm sorry, but it's a special case," her father replied and sat next to the two girls in the corridor, nearly squishing them against the wall with his rotund frame.

"Why's that?" Melissa, the ever curious, inquired.

"Well you both know we live in a Muggle town, and very rarely, except in the late evening, do we receive mail via owl."

"I don't understand," Melissa and Kitty both pouted.

"Well, Muggles don't get their mail from owls, my dears, I'm sure you've already noticed. They get mail through the regular post. So, often, Hogwarts will send your special letter with the Muggle post."

This news did not suit Kitty, as she had always hoped her letter would come via owl. Kitty had always wanted an owl. She saw owls come with the Daily Prophet, a leading wizard newspaper, for her parents every night, and had so desperately wanted to receive her letter in the same way. Also, the post office was closed today due to a town celebration.

"It's not fair," Kitty groaned.

"I know, I know," her father said, desperately trying to soothe her by stroking her hair.

Frank Habersnap was not the best at dealing with emotional little girls, as hard as he tried.

"I know!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Melissa hopped up and down in the hallway, excited at the look on her father's face.

"You'll get an owl, for your school present. Would that make up for it?" Frank's eyes were imploring, hoping he'd satisfied his eldest daughter.

"Yes, Dad! That's perfect, thank you so much!" Kitty jumped on her father, hugging him tightly.

Helen's voice came from the kitchen, "What's going on out there? Are you promising presents again?"

"Maybe…" Frank replied.

Helen entered the hallway and smiled at her three family members piled there hugging, "You're all silly. Come, let's make lunch."

Kitty went to bed that day satisfied. In a few days, maybe even tomorrow, the postmaster would come with her letter. And she would get her very own owl! Kitty would be special, and she'd soon meet other special, magical children just like her. She'd even learn magical powers and skills. Perhaps her dreams would not be so strange after all. It took her a long time to fall asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two-The First Meeting

Kitty stared at the envelope she'd just received, "Mooooom!" she called excitedly.

She was ecstatic glancing at the fancy green inked script on the cream colored envelope she held in her hands. It felt heavy for a letter, likely containing her supplies list as well as her welcome letter. Kitty had never felt so accepted, and she hadn't even opened the letter yet.

Helen Habersnap rushed into the hallway, worried until she saw Kitty with her letter, "Oh my! Frank, you're going to want to bring the camera!" she called to her husband.

"I wanna see!"

Eight year old Melissa hopped up and down, excited to see what her sister had received. Kitty was overjoyed herself, handing the letter to her mother.

"It's Hogwarts, Mom! I've been accepted!"

"Well I told you that you would be!" Helen kissed her daughter's forehead, "But I am so proud of you."

After dreadful years of having to hide her magic from the world because she was strange, Kitty was truly happy to be accepted to Hogwarts at last. Since, at age ten going on eleven, she was now of age. She'd heard many stories of the Habersnaps' times in Hogwarts. She was excited beyond belief to have her own adventures soon. Finally, she would meet other children, besides her sister, who were like her.

Frank Habersnap came running with the camera and started to take all sorts of photos of Kitty with her letter, Melissa trying to take the letter, and Helen watching her two adopted daughters with her gentle smile. These photos, Kitty knew, would go into the family album after being treated with a special chemical in the dark room that would make the characters move. The Muggles had non-moving albums, she knew that from the neighbors, and she much preferred seeing her memories come to life.

"I'm so happy for you dear," her mother patted her head and smiled winking, "Want to go shopping when Dad leaves for work?"

"You'll need to get all your school supplies after all," her father winked, putting the camera away.

Kitty clapped her hands, hugging her mother, "Oh thanks so much Mom and Dad; I love you!"

Helen laughed her soft, tinkling laugh. Kitty thought it sounded like a fairy giggling. She even looked like one; though, Kitty had only seen them in storybooks and on the occasional trip to the magical circus in London or the zoo. Frank was almost the opposite of a fairy, but he somehow fit in with Helen's petite frame as he held his wife close.

"Go get dressed and brush your teeth, then you can say goodbye to your father, and we'll go out."

Helen had hardly finished speaking before Kitty had rushed off to her room. Kitty smiled as she brushed her long, red hair. She was thinking all about the pet she would get and how many friends she would make. Within minutes she was ready to go. She hugged her father, Frank, goodbye and marched proudly to her mother's car eager to be on her way.

"You haven't even read your letter yet," Helen teased, "but read it in the car dear, since you obviously can't wait to get going."

Kitty opened her letter noting the Hogwarts crest at the top of the letter, the same as the seal on the envelope, and began to read to herself:

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc. Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Malone,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress"

The first page was enough to fill Kitty with joy, but her curiosity was not satisfied until after she read the second page:

"HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of _WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4\. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry nametags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_

by Miranda Goshawk

_A History of Magic_

by Bathilda Bagshot

_Magical Theory _

by Adalbert Waffling

_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_

by Emeric Switch

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_

by Phyllida Spore

_Magical Drafts and Potions_

by Arsenius Jigger

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_

by Newt Scamander

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_

by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

Yours sincerely,

Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus

Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions"

Kitty was so excited to be a Hogwarts student. Not only would she be learning about her special skills, but also she would be with other children just like her. No one would call her weird now, because everyone would have magic just like she did. Most of all, Kitty was excited to possibly make friends. There was only the nagging doubt that she was even stranger than the others, but she tried to push it away with excitement.

"I'm going to get some money from the bank," Helen told Kitty, "I'll take Melissa with me." Melissa began to protest, wanting to stay with Kitty feeding off of her excited energy, but Helen hushed her and continued to give Kitty her directions, "I trust that you won't run off, and you'll stay here at the pet shop until you've chosen an owl for your school present?"

"Yes Mom! I promise I'll be good."

Kitty was staring at the many cages filled with pets, already worlds away by the time Helen had managed to get Melissa to come along to the bank without a fuss. The eight year old did like to see the goblins working at the bank. These short and strange looking creatures fascinated her. Kitty was afraid of those magical creatures because of their strictness. She was happy to stay at the pet shop rather than to go to the bank.

Kids were poking fingers into cages, and people were milling all about. The sound of chatter filled Kitty's ears but somehow, her attention fell on two young, redheaded boys. Their hair was a strange dark red she'd never seen before, and they were extremely tall, even though they seemed to be her age. Most boys her age that she'd met were short and rather chubby, but these boys were lanky. So, at least to Kitty, they seemed tall.

The two boys were staring at the most beautiful brown owl she'd ever seen. It flapped its grey-feathered wings in a sort of acknowledgment of the boys. She neared the cage, placing herself next to them, and listened to their conversation. Ever since her last intentional engagement of the Muggle children at the park, Kitty had become shy and rarely entered conversation with those she didn't know. But for some reason, she felt the urge to jump into the conversation, so she waited for her chance.

"Must be a girl," one of the boys said.

"Nah!" replied the other, "It's clearly a boy. Look at how proudly he's sitting!"

"Doesn't matter, we don't get a pet anyway. Percy has the family rat," grumbled the first.

Kitty saw her chance to jump in at this moment.

"I agree with it being a girl," she declared, and the boys jumped, looking around quickly until they noticed who was speaking.

The first boy smiled brilliantly at her, and she couldn't help but smile back, staring deep into his sweet brown eyes. In them she saw the two of them, older, but it was them; they were dancing. She blinked, having realized she was staring, and blushed. It was just like her future dreams, seeing things that hadn't happened. She would have thought it was just wishful thinking, but the boy blinked as well, running a hand nervously through his hair.

_ Did he see it too? _Kitty wondered.

She looked the boys over. They seemed to be wearing clothing slightly too large for them, like the hand-me-downs some of the children in her town wore. They appeared even larger because of the boys' lanky frames. Strangely, the second boy was holding a large gray rat, she assumed it was, "Percy's family rat," the first boy had spoken of. It was sleeping like a log in the second boy's hands. Even more strangely, they looked almost exactly the same, the same freckles, they both had smiling brown eyes, but something was different. They only looked almost exactly the same to her.

"Are you twins?"

"Maybe," the first said.

"Maybe not," the other shrugged.

"How would we know it's like looking into a mirror," they both finished.

Kitty laughed shaking her head. She ventured another question, feeling braver than she had in many years because of her Hogwarts letter. But also because of the first boy's welcoming smile.

"What are you going to do with the…rat?"

"Well," the second boy holding it replied, "We're hoping that mother will think Scabbers is lost forever and buy us a new pet."

"Probably won't happen, though," the first boy sighed.

"Are you going to school?" Kitty ventured another question.

"We're going to Hogwarts," the second boy holding the rat replied.

"Stir up some trouble," the first boy continued.

"Like we always do," finished the second.

"That's where I'm going too!" she exclaimed, then flushed.

She hadn't realized how loud she was and had attracted attention from the crowd. Kitty nervously played with the hem of her blue, long-sleeved shirt. She was glad she had managed not to wake the rat in the hands of the second boy.

"That was an explosion," the second boy smiled at the first boy who Kitty assumed was his brother.

"There will be a lot of that going on when we get there," the first boy nodded knowingly.

"I know a little bit about that! My dad blew up the trophy room. I can tell you how if you like?" Kitty smiled broadly.

The two boys were about to respond, their faces animated with excitement, when she heard a woman calling loudly for someone through the crowd of last-minute school shoppers. This was not uncommon, people had been calling each other in the crowd this whole time, but she noticed a reaction in her two new companions.

"Boys! Come here! You're not causing trouble again are you? Have you had Scabbers the entire time?!" the woman was fussing at the boys from across the crowd.

"We'll see you there then," the first boy spoke as they waved to Kitty, "We'll find you don't worry," the first boy finished as the two started walking away into the crowd.

"Sorry, we've got to go, it's just that mom gets a little excitable if we don't come when she calls!" the second boy called to her through the crowd.

Kitty just managed to see them walk to a short, plump woman in a dress with the same dark, red hair. She was rather disappointed with their short exchange, having hoped she would see more of the two. But perhaps she would run into them later as she continued to shop for her supplies? If they were Hogwarts students her age, surely they had the same list as she did.

"I didn't even get your names," she mumbled to herself as she turned to look at the owl again.

Its eyes met hers; they were pitch black, but Kitty saw something deep inside them, a sort of understanding. A light among the darkness. She felt as if the owl were looking straight into her soul. The owl nodded to her, as if accepting what it saw.

"You are a girl, aren't you?"

The owl replied with a soft coo as if to say yes. It sat upon its perch fluffing its feathers.

"I'll name you Mansha," Kitty told the owl and saw a new brightness in the owl's eyes, a glowing happiness.

"Is this the one you want?"

Kitty jumped at her mother's voice.

"Oh umm, yeah! Can I have her please?"

"Of course dear, your father did promise you an owl as your school present," her mother smiled and dug out some galleons from her purse; they bought Mansha at the counter inside before moving on to the rest of the shopping.

"Shall we get your school robes and wand after getting the smaller items?"

"Why not my wand and robes first?" Kitty was almost pouting, excited to have a wand, and hoping it would be as pretty as Helen's with leaves all over it.

"Because, my dear, it'll be too crowded. The others always shop there first so you'd have to wait in line anyway. My way you won't have to wait in line long, if at all."

Kitty sullenly agreed with her mother. It made sense, and she had no desire to wait in line, but she so desired a wand. The Habersnaps did not take their wands out at home often, living in a Muggle town, so it was always a treat when they did. Kitty almost felt like she lived more in the Muggle world than the magical one, because the few times she went with her mother to visit her father in the Ministry of Magic or go shopping, she was always surprised by things she'd never seen before. Desperately, Kitty wanted to be a witch, and the wand would seal the deal.

Finally, Kitty, with the help of her mother and sister, had gathered up all the little items Kitty would need for her first year at Hogwarts. The Habersnaps were rather well off, so Kitty had received the best of the items available at the various shops. Kitty was rather disappointed not to have run into the two boys she'd met earlier again, but now she was too excited about the imminent purchase of her school robes at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and picking her wand at Ollivander's Wand Shop.

Madam Malkin's shop was a cheery boutique with large windows in the front from which passersby could see the Madam fitting and hemming uniforms for those inside. Helen sent Kitty into the changing room after finding a basic black robe close in size. Kitty put it on and found the sleeves were far too long, but other than that her robe fit perfectly. She would still have to see Madam Malkin to have it pinned and fitted. Kitty emerged from the changing room and stepped onto one of the small circular platforms in front of the window. Her mother was discussing robe packages.

"Unlike other robe shops, we do the fittings and alterations for free," the stout, white-haired Madam Malkin was explaining, "the only payment is for the robe packages. Some include gloves and scarves for winter while other only include your house crest."

"And how does it work when we don't know the house yet?" Helen questioned.

"That's actually quite simple, as soon as houses are picked, I will be informed by the school as to the students who purchased packages from me and immediately finish and send out the products you ordered. Until that time you will only have the basic black robe, but the crest and other items will be mailed to you by the next evening after the Sorting."

Kitty knew what the Sorting was from stories at home. It was a special ceremony for the new students at Hogwarts to be placed into the house they fit into. Each house had different traits and they had separate crests and school colors. Kitty wasn't sure yet which house she would fit into but there were four: Slytherin for the ambitious, Gryffindor for the brave, Ravenclaw for the intelligent, and Hufflepuff for the kind, but some said they were really for those who could not be placed in another house.

Madam Malkin cheerily approached Kitty, "I see the sleeves are not quite the right fit, but don't you worry I'll fix it right up."

As the blue-eyed witch pinned and folded over the sleeves of Kitty's robe, Madam Malkin chatted cheerfully. It was amazing that she could, considering that she had at least two pins between her lips at any given time while she worked. The pincushion was enchanted and floated idly next to the witch so she never ran out of her necessary items.

Kitty was behaving and holding still until she jumped at the sight of the two boys she'd met earlier. They were walking past with their mother, the short witch she'd heard calling them through the crowd, and a whole cast of other young children and older boys with the same deep red hair. Madam Malkin gripped her arm firmly.

"Now, dear, you've been so good until now, please keep holding still," she fixed Kitty with her blue eyes sternly, making her point.

"Sorry," Kitty muttered as she watched the pack of redheads walk away.

Soon after, Madam Malkin was done, and Kitty was sent to change out of the robe. She then gave the robe to the again cheery Madam Malkin who waved them off as they exited her shop.

"Don't worry I'll have your five basic robes mailed to you by the end of the week and your other items will be delivered as soon as you've been sorted," Madam Malkin called after the family of three as they left.

"But, I thought I only needed three robes, Mom," Kitty wondered aloud.

"Yes, but I thought it would be best to have a few extra, so you don't need to have your robes cleaned by the elves too frequently."

"There are elves?!" Kitty's jaw dropped to the cobblestone path of the alley.

"Of course, but you never see them. They prepare the meals in the kitchens as well. You drop your laundry down your Common Room's laundry chute, and it gets cleaned and returned to your room."

"How do they know what clothes is whose?" the bewildered girl asked.

"Magic, of course. Now let's retrieve your wand quickly, we've spent quite a while shopping already."

Kitty was a bundle of energy again, and she completely forgot about having seen the boys walking off. She would be going to get her wand now! Melissa was rather tired at this point from shopping all day and was helping Helen by carrying the small purse containing all of the items they had purchased already. There was an enchantment on the purse that made it appear small even though when you looked inside there was a large room in the purse.

Finally, the family approached Ollivander's Wand Shop, a small and dusty shop on the South Side of Diagon Alley. The large window had only one display, a wand placed on a pillow, and it was all covered in dust. Even the window was smudged and dirty, but Kitty didn't care. She was ecstatic. Melissa had grown so weary from their long trip she plopped down in a nearby bench.

"I'll wait out here with Melissa until you've found your wand," Kitty's mother instructed as she sat down next to Melissa, "It can get rather…messy."

Kitty didn't really care and was too excited to listen properly, running into the shop rather than walking. The interior of the shop was just as dirty and dusty as the outside. Wands and empty boxes were scattered everywhere. Kitty noticed an old man with grey hair and spectacles attempting to replace some of the boxes in empty shelf slots. The wand shop was rather like a strange library.

The old man turned to face her, "Ah, I see another young one has come for their first wand," he spoke in a strange whisper.

Kitty noticed that his eyes were milky white. She wondered if he was really able to see at all. The man simply stood there as if waiting for a reply.

"Yes…I am looking for my first wand," she responded, slightly frightened now, "Are you Mr. Ollivander?"

"That I am, but who are you?" he queried back.

"Kittianna Belle Malone," she responded, and a truly quizzical look crossed Ollivander's face.

"Malone…why you must not be from around here. I never outfitted a Malone with a wand before…what was your mother's maiden name?"

"Lusther," Kitty replied; Ollivander became even more confused.

"I never…" he finally said, "You're the first all new customer I've had in years. I'll have to start from scratch with you."

"Why's that?" Kitty asked confused.

"Well you see," Ollivander said as he took out a measuring tape from his desk, "most young witches and wizards take after the traits of their parents, which makes it easier for me if I outfitted their parents. Wands have a tendency to be quite picky by choosing their owner based on their traits. Which is your wand arm?"

Kitty raised her left arm and Ollivander began to measure her from elbow to fingertip, fingertip to wrist, wrist to palm, and so on. She didn't really understand it. After a moment a thoughtful look came upon the Wand Shopkeeper and he stepped away to his wand racks. The tape measure continued measuring Kitty all over.

"But don't you choose your own wand?" Kitty asked confused.

"That's just what people want to believe," Ollivander replied rather vaguely.

He snapped his fingers and the tape measure stopped its work, falling neatly to the ground by Kitty's feet. She watched as the old wand maker went through a pile of fallen wand boxes to pick up a dusty green one.

"Let's try this one, oak wood with a raven feather, rather flexible and about seven inches long," he mumbled words Kitty didn't really understand and handed her the box.

Kitty slowly removed the wand from the box. It was of a light brown color and very plain with a small circular knob at the end she held onto. Ollivander watched her. After a moment she tried to give it a flick and the tape measure flew up, hitting her on the cheek as though trying to slap her.

"Ouch," she whimpered.

"Well, obviously not quite right…though partially, certainly not completely wrong, no…" Ollivander muttered taking the wand back and laying it on his desk before finding something else. "How about this one," he pulled out a white wand with black stripes that ran in a corkscrew pattern from the bottom to the tip, "I know the bottom is a little strange in shape, but this is my first experiment with birch wood and unicorn hair. It's flexible and about nine inches long."

The bottom was a little strange. It was three black, circular bulbs with a strip of white between them. Kitty liked the way the wand looked and she took it from Ollivander hoping against all hope it would be hers. The wand felt cool to the touch at first but started to warm her fingers. She flicked it just once and a shower of brightly colored bubbles flew from the tip swirling around her. Kitty looked at the bubbles, trying to catch them, squealing with glee.

Ollivander chuckled at her, "That'd be the one, then."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three- This House, That House

Kitty spent many weeks in her room, reading textbook after textbook. She knew she would be that weird girl who had already been through all the lessons, but she was so excited to learn about the magical world, her world, the one she belonged in. It had been many years since she last spoke to the Muggle children in town, but now she no longer cowered when she saw them coming down the street. Kitty walked tall, because she meant something again, and soon she would be a witch.

Obviously she knew it would be seven long years before she could do what a full-grown witch or wizard could, but her hope kept her going. She had never been so happy, and there was a prospect out there for all new friendships and knowledge. Kitty loved knowledge; she was almost certain she'd be a Ravenclaw.

Her dreams came frequently and repetitively. Most nights she saw the smiling faces of the two boys. Along with that, she saw people that were slightly transparent, magical ghosts that talked and walked the halls of a place she'd never seen. The place had high ceilings and paintings hung on every wall. It was a beautiful place, and it felt like home. Kitty felt a strange connection to both the ghosts and the two boys. The image she'd seen in the first boy's eyes came to her also. They danced together under the stars.

The time got closer and closer to the 1st of September, which just so happened to also be Kitty's birthday, the same as the first day of school. This of course meant that all the celebrating had to be done before the next day. Kitty didn't mind, because she was too excited to see the twins again and to be a bigger part of her special world. Excitement kept her going. Most of her presents that evening were school related, special spelling quills and a beautiful parchment set so she could write home. With Mansha as her pet, writing home would be no trouble.

Melissa was not pleased that her sister was leaving without her. The young girl followed her sister almost everywhere constantly. She had done so since childhood, always taking her hints from Kitty. Melissa was unhappy that she could not go as well. Kitty was unable to pack her large trunk because Melissa would get upset that she couldn't come along, and Kitty did not like to see her sister so distraught. She ended up packing frantically the night before when Melissa had gone to bed.

Naturally, Kitty knew she would miss her family, and she would miss Melissa most of all. She also knew, though, that Melissa would have her own experience two years from now, and that she would see her family again after her year at Hogwarts, maybe even for the holidays if it was possible. The thing was, Kitty knew she was embarking on a long-awaited adventure and nothing would hold her back.

That night, Kitty found it hard to sleep. It was all so overwhelming. Four houses, a school year away from family, and most of all on her mind, would she see those boys again? At some point she must have fallen asleep, because the next morning her mother woke her for a big breakfast, her favorite yogurt with granolas, after which she got ready. She wanted to do something interesting with her hair, so she asked her mother to braid it for her. She politely obliged and then, Kitty was ready.

The family piled into the car all together and Melissa calmed down, accepting that her trip would come soon enough, but still unhappy. She helped Kitty pack the car, having accepted that Kitty would have to do this adventure without her, but that in a few years she would join in. The family drove all the way to London, as they always did when they went with Frank to work, but this time they were going to the train station.

Kitty had been to King's Cross Station to pick up friends of the Habersnaps on vacation before, but she'd never had to ride a train herself. She looked at her ticket and tried to make sense of it. At each station number she looked back to the other, getting more and more confused.

"Mom, I've never heard of Platform Nine and Three Quarters before, and I don't see any numbers other than counting numbers. Does it even exist?" Kitty looked up at her mother.

"Don't worry, it's there, you'll see," her father patted her shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

Kitty pushed her cart along proudly but blinked, stopping in her tracks. She saw the boys from the day before disappear into the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"Magic?" she looked to her father who nodded in response moving her towards the barrier.

Kitty stood looking at the barrier for a moment. The two boys' family disappeared into the barrier as well. They simply walked right through it and disappeared. Kitty loved magic, even if she didn't always understand it.

"So, do I just walk into it?"

"Or run, it's your choice," her mother smiled, "Go ahead dear, we'll meet you on the other side."

After watching a few others pass through the barrier, Kitty decided to run through the barrier so as to avoid anything uncomfortable. Kitty closed her eyes tightly and started to run, bracing herself for impact or at the very least some weird feeling, like moving through water or something else she didn't care to think about. There was absolutely no sensation, as if she had just walked through a doorway, and Kitty heard a train whistle as she slowed to a stop. She opened her eyes and saw others putting suitcases onto the train. The train was long, beautiful, and red. It was so shiny that the lights overhead reflected off its frame.

Kitty smiled and thought, _magic_.

Her parents appeared a moment later with Melissa. They started loading Kitty's luggage onto the train and hugged her goodbye.

"Be good, and write us regularly. Or you can phone your father at his number in the Ministry if anything goes wrong," Helen fussed over her daughter, wiping a smudge from her cheek.

Frank awkwardly hugged Kitty, "I'll miss you my dear," he said. He was obviously sad but didn't know how to express his feelings other than by saying, "You know your mother and I love you."

Melissa started crying, "I wanna' go too!"

"In a few years, okay sis?" Kitty was the one fussing now and Melissa nodded and hugged her.

After breaking free of her sibling's hug, Frank gave Kitty a hand onto the train. She waved goodbye, and started the search for a seat. She wanted one by a window toward the platform, so she could wave goodbye. Kitty made her way along the aisle looking into a few cars with most of them being full of children she didn't know. It didn't take her too long to find the right car, though.

"Hey girl! It's you!" Kitty blinked at the familiar voice as she was looking into a car at the two boys from her shopping trip in Diagon Alley.

"Oh hello, you two!" she smiled sweetly, the freckles over her cheeks and nose seeming darker because she was blushing.

"You want to sit with us? I'd like to hear that story you were telling us about," she recognized this voice as the second boy.

"I'd love to!" she said hopping into the seat next to the first boy.

"So, we didn't catch your name last time. I'm Fred by the way, and my brother's name," his brother interrupted, "is George." the first one, now Fred, smiled.

"Nice to meet you both, I'm Kitty," the boys looked at each other.

"That's an interesting name," Fred thought aloud.

"Quite," agreed his brother.

"Does this mean you'd eat the family rat?" Fred smiled.

"Better yet, do you happen to have an owl, maybe it could eat Scabbers," George's face perked up.

"Sweet, maybe we can get a new pet!" Fred perked up as well.

Kitty laughed, giggling softly into her hand.

"What's funny?" they asked simultaneously.

"You're just silly is all," she smiled and they laughed too.

The train started to move so, just as all the other students, they stuck their heads out the windows and waved goodbye to their parents until they could no longer see the platform. Kitty's family became smaller and smaller until the train blew its whistle and turned along a corner. She felt slightly bereaved, but exhilarated sitting back down to look across at George and Fred next to her. His hair was ruffled and disheveled, while George's was just a little neater.

George noticed her looking, "Mom managed to get me with the comb before we got on," he explained.

The two boys began to explain all about their family. They lived in a tall hut they referred to as The Burrow. Both Fred and George seemed very close with their family and affectionate toward each member.

"Bill's the oldest one of us," Fred explained, "he's a Curse Breaker for Gringott's in Egypt. Rather a neat job really if you ask me. Finding mummies and magical treasures in the pyramids."

"Charlie's next," George continued, "graduated recently. He failed his Apparition test once, by the way, rather a funny story. He landed on a Muggle woman doing her shopping."

"Apparition?" Kitty wondered.

"Magical way to go from place to place," George began explaining, but Fred finished, "You move through space magically to another place. Very difficult trick really, you have to be licensed to do it."

"But anyway, Charlie studies dragons in Romania now. He always loved Care of Magical Creatures class," George told Kitty, "then there's our brother Percy."

"He'll be named a Prefect, you know the ones who keep us following the rules and such. It's his third year, he's around here somewhere with his friends, didn't want to sit with us."

"We'll never get that job," George chuckled.

"Too boring anyway, following the rules. We'd hate it. He won't be very happy with us at all. Hard to make us follow the rules," Fred said proudly, "he's been really stuck up for a long time, doesn't like our pranks much."

"I'd wonder why," Kitty mumbled, "is he the butt of them per chance?"

"Good guesser," Fred grinned and Kitty blushed.

"So are you next in line then?"

"Right you are, again, a good guess," Fred bumped her shoulder.

"Fred was born first and then me, April 1st you know."

"April Fool's Day, really?" Kitty asked and the boys nodded proudly in unison, "Are you the last then?"

"Not at all," Fred began, "We're a very large family," George finished.

"Who's next?"

"Little brother Ron. He's a good sport, follows us around a bit too much though," George stretched and placed his arms behind his head.

"Yeah, but he's not all bad."

"My sister does the same thing, Little Melissa is a sweetheart all the same."

"She's your only sibling?" Fred inclined his head.

"That she is. She'll be coming to Hogwarts in two years, which is great because I'm going to miss her. We're not really related though, she was adopted when I was young."

"An adopted sibling is still a loving one," Fred comforted and George agreed.

"We've only got one sister, too. She's the youngest right after Ron," George smiled happily, perhaps with a look of pride.

"Yep," Fred said with the same look, "Little Ginevra, we call her Ginny. She's a family jewel that one. Very open and honest, and extremely susceptible emotionally. It's easy to make her laugh, but just as easy to make her cry, sadly," Fred muttered sadly towards the end.

"Your family sounds lovely," Kitty said with a twang of sadness.

Kitty loved her family, but she would do anything to have spent her years with her birth parents. She would give almost anything to have had a big family like the Weasleys had. There was nothing quite like the love they seemed to have for each other.

"What house do you want?" Fred asked munching on some Slithering Gummy Snakes.

The trolley had just come by and Kitty had bought some treats with the money her mother had given her, leftovers from shopping. The Snakes were her personal favorite since they were enchanted to hiss at people, and this entertained her. Fred and George seemed to be very fond of them also.

The two hadn't had any money of their own. When the trolley pulled up, the two had silently retrieved bagged sandwiches. Kitty assumed from their hand-me-down and ill-fitting clothing that the Weasleys were not particularly well off. It made sense with so many family members, but at least they were happy. She decided to buy her new friends their own pack of her favorite sweets.

"I honestly don't know. Mom told me to let the sorting ceremony decide."

"Gryffindor is the house for us, the house of the brave!" George exclaimed.

"Also the house of our family," Fred finished.

"Wow that's neat, I think the Habersnaps were Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

"The Habersnaps, you call your parents by their last name?" Fred asked, a confused look on his face.

"Well, my parents were killed when I was just a baby, so I was adopted by their best friends. Helen and Frank are simply wonderful, we're a self-created family really, not just Melissa," Kitty explained.

"Oh," George said, "I'm sorry...How were they killed? If you don't mind my asking."

"We don't mean to be insensitive bothers," Fred agreed.

"Not at all, I was told they were killed by Voldemort's followers at our home, but they spared me." Kitty was surprised neither boy winced at the mention of his real name.

Most magical people did, because of the terrible things he had done. The only reason Kitty didn't was because of Frank's vehement refusal not to give in to the use of Voldemort's nicknames. The twins simply nodded and offered their condolences.

"The Lord Moldybutt sure was a nasty fellow," Fred said seriously.

"Lord Moldybutt?!" Kitty giggled.

"Yep, and that Harry Potter kid is some kind of hero. Without even having known it," George said.

"Yeah, if I ever meet him, I'll hug him first thing," Kitty smiled, trying to imagine what the Potter boy looked like, "but I suppose I might never, no one knows where he is."

"That's true, some say he was sent to America or some other place," George nodded.

"You know, we've done a terrible job of getting to know you," Fred frowned suddenly, "we didn't ask you for your full name. I assume Kitty is a nickname?"

"Oh, Kittianna, Kittianna Belle Malone."

"That's rather a strange combination," George said with a small chuckle.

"Well my mother was a Russian, by the name of Latsia Lusther, one of the Russian pureblood families. She met my father, an American pureblood from the Malone family named Andrew, at a World Cup game. Sadly, father lost out on the name game so I've been saddled with a strange name," Kitty became more and more red as she shared.

"I like it, Kittianna," Fred smiled and Kitty blushed even harder.

"Kitty, please," she mumbled and the boys laughed then a blond girl with a badge carrying the letter "P" appeared in the hall.

Kitty knew this stood for Prefect after the explanation of the twins, the older students who keep the other students in line and following the rules. The Prefect walked down the aisle saying to put on their school robes, because they would be arriving soon. Kitty changed in a different compartment before returning to talking with the boys.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" a loud, booming voice called out over the crowd of students in robes.

The trio stumbled their way to a large man in a fur coat. He looked like a giant; his long, matted mane of dark hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in years. The large man had a long dark beard as well, it was also matted, and it looked like there were things wiggling in the pockets of his fur coat. Kitty liked him; he seemed like a kind man despite his large size. Some of the other students shied away from him.

The older students began to move their luggage off the train. Kitty began to worry about her luggage and Mansha, who had been sitting in a luggage compartment the whole time. The first year compartment was toward the front of the train, and she'd have to run to retrieve her beloved owl before the train took off.

"Alrigh' firs' years, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, jus' call me Hagrid of cour'. We're gon' head over to the boats. Now don' worry abou' yer luggage, that'll be moved upen' to yer rooms by magic. So les' go," the giant, now Hagrid, proclaimed.

Kitty tried her best to stay close to the twins as the group moved, following Hagrid down to the water. There were about thirty or forty young people in their group, all mashing together so as not to get lost. First the group was led along a dark shady path to the bank of a lake. It was filled with boats and the first years were asked to take a seat.

The nervous youngsters sat four to a boat, Kitty next to Fred and George next to a dark-skinned girl she didn't know. The boats surged forward over the smooth dark water, through magic naturally. Soft waves lapped the boats, and they huddled close in the cold night. Kitty worried the boats would tip over.

"Welcome ta 'ogwarts!" boomed Hagrid's deep voice as an amazing view opened up before them.

They were all amazed by what they saw. In front of them over the smooth, black lake stood a large, medieval style castle on top of a rocky mountainside. The windows looked like fireflies floating before their eyes in the spring. Kitty felt an odd security looking at the great castle. There was a bump as they hit the shore on the other side; startled, she grabbed Fred's hand.

"Don't worry, you're fine," he smiled.

She found herself staring into his eyes again, seeing them laughing and holding hands before she snapped back to the present. Fred blinked at her just as he had the first time she'd looked deep into his eyes. Kitty truly wondered if she had gained some new talent. This worried her a bit, but there was not much time to ask Fred if he'd seen anything too.

Hagrid mushed the group into the castle and up the large marble steps to a high door, which opened for him slowly with cranking noises as bolts unsnapped. There were moving paintings all over the walls as the group entered the castle, some even waved to the first years as they passed. The paintings were just like magical photographs, they moved just as the person would have if they were really there. Kitty laughed happily with the twins as they saw a group of jesters waving and performing tricks for the new arrivals.

A tall, stern-faced, older woman stood at the top of a large set of stairs as the first years fully entered the hall. Her dark, black hair was pulled into a tight bun on the top of her head. She wore a robe of deep emerald, the cloth shining dimly in the light. Her eyes looked them over as she gave them their instructions, her voice warm yet obviously strict.

"I am Professor McGonagall, welcome to Hogwarts," as she spoke she led them through another set of large, intricately carved doors in front of them.

She led them to the front of an expansive hall with tables along the sides, the students looking up at the ceiling. The ceiling showed a starry night sky, in fact, it looked so much like the real sky it was hard to believe the hall had a ceiling at all. It was enchanted, and Kitty thought it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Her thoughts returned to the woman leading them as she began to instruct the students.

"When I call your name, you will come forward, place the sorting hat upon your head, and sit on the stool. There are four houses you can be sorted into. They are: Gryffindor for the brave; Hufflepuff for the loyal, kind, and hardworking; Ravenclaw for the wise; and Slytherin," she paused slightly, "for the ambitious."

When the professor finished her instructions there was a nervous silence in the hall. The students shuffled their feet and Kitty instinctively moved closer to Fred and George. There was a nervous feeling in the air itself as the first years wondered about their future houses and new adventure.

"The older students should be arriving any moment now, so please make yourselves…presentable," the stern professor looked deliberately at the few students, including the twins with their disheveled hair.

The twins ran their hands through their hair, and Kitty noticed many of the girls frantically trying to brush the knots from theirs with their fingers. She was glad her own hair was in a braid.

The professor spoke up again, "As Head of Gryffindor house I would, of course, like to see all of you within its Common Room walls. However, whatever house you find yourself sorted into, I wish you good luck and good studies."

The hall filled up pretty quickly after the professor finished her talk. As Professor McGonagall unrolled her scroll, the whole hall fell silent, and they stared at the hat she had placed on the stool, as if expecting something to happen. Kitty herself began to stare and was amazed when the hat moved, a large stitch along the brim opening to form a gaping mouth. The hat started to sing.

Welcome to Hogwarts,

To another year,

You'll learn quite a bit,

If you lend professors an ear,

But first you must be sorted,

That's what I'm here for,

So listen when I call out,

The house to be your home!

When the hat was done, Kitty was even more nervous. The elder students surrounding the group clapped for the song. Kitty shuffled her feet more and thought for sure she was turning green.

"Whatever happens, "George whispered and Fred finished, "we stay together."

Kitty took their hands squeezing them lightly, and they waited to be called forward. She was thankful for their comfort, as small as it was. The two were the best friends she'd ever had.

"Cromwenth,Thomas," Professor McGonagall called out.

A lanky boy moved slowly toward the stool. He set the sorting hat on his brown curls and for several minutes he sat with the hat covering his light green eyes, since the hat was much too large brimmed to fit. Then the hat called out, "Gryffindor!"

"Foxworthy, Mimi"

A small girl sat under the hat for about ten seconds before the hat decided, "Ravenclaw!" Five more students went before the first of the trio. This included the dark-skinned girl George had sat next to on the boats whose name was Angelina Jones.

Fred was called up first of the three. Before the sorting hat had really touched his head it shouted, "Gryffindor!" George went up directly afterwards, and again, without touching his head it shouted, "Gryffindor!"

As each house was declared, their set of tables would stand and clap, welcoming the new member to their table. Now that she was alone, Kitty worried she would be sorted into a different house, away from her friends. She didn't much want to go to Ravenclaw house anymore, despite that she thought she'd fit in there. Kitty had made her first friends ever besides her family, and that was all she'd ever wanted.

"Wybenthal, Shana," a sweet looking girl with brown curls and brown eyes hopped onto the stool and was sent to Gryffindor and was closely followed by a slightly chubby blond, "Sherstein, Crystal."

The group became smaller and smaller, until Kitty was completely alone. Kitty nibbled her lip shuffling her feet again, looking over at the twins. Fred sent her an encouraging smile and a thumbs-up, which, although comforting, worried her even more that she'd be sent away from them. She twirled the end of her braid around her finger.

"Malone, Kittianna," the professor called out, as she folded up her scroll.

Kitty stepped forward; she heard snickers at her name, which put her even more on edge. She put on the sorting hat and seated herself on the stool. Kitty could smell the old leather of the hat, feeling how wise and powerful this magical object was. She reached up brushing the brim of the hat feeling how soft the aged leather was, worn down over the years. Then, she heard a gruff voice speaking in her mind.

"Quite the mind I see, but I surely don't think Slytherin or Hufflepuff would do you much good. Though you are very loyal and certainly kind and hardworking. Hmm, maybe Gryffindor, but still you're pulling me toward Ravenclaw. Not exactly the courageous type from what I can see in your past, though a few times certainly."

_Please_ Kitty thought as hard as she could, hoping it would hear her _please send me to Gryffindor with my friends! I've never had friends before…_she confided in the Sorting Hat, hoping that it cared about her opinion.

"Well then, since you asked so nicely," it said to her in her mind, "You do deserve friendship after all; you're very special."

The hat then shouted to the whole assembly, "Gryffindor!"

She was in disbelief. The hat had given her exactly what she'd asked for, and she would be in the same house as her friends. There was no greater happiness in Kitty's mind than this outcome. Kitty removed the hat, placing it neatly on the stool, and hopped to the spot Fred had saved for her, just in case she was picked for Gryffindor. The hat quickly returned to its floppy state, its mouth disappearing, and its job over for another year.

"Glad you made it," Fred said into her ear over the clapping and welcoming she was receiving.

"Hello there, I'm Ronda Evanson, the Head Girl," an older student said, shaking Kitty's hand, she had mousy brown hair and sandy hazel eyes, "Welcome to Gryffindor." The girl explained, "I'll be in charge of your side of our house so come to me if you need anything. You know, it's interesting they didn't call you all out in alphabetical order this year. I don't fully understand it."

"Perhaps the quill that writes names of magical children born or moved to England or Scotland needs to be recharmed?" a male student, bearing the Prefect badge responded.

Everyone suddenly fell silent just as Ronda was going to reply as a tall, older gentleman stood from his seat at the middle of the table situated at the front of hall. He wore a long purple robe and he had alligator boots. He was Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster.

"First off, I would like to say a few words so we can eat. Cheerio old chap, stiff upper lip! Let's eat."

The whole hall laughed, and before Kitty realized what had happened, there was an amazing array of foods before her, on the plates that had just been empty. She stared at the food; there were things of all kinds. Mashed potatoes next to oozing vats of gravy, ham covered in a honey glaze, even sweetened chicken breast.

Kitty looked around as she was eating with the twins, talking excitedly with the other new recruits. The entire hall was full of people. At the head table, the professors and Dumbledore were seated discussing and eating. Kitty had seen this in one of her dreams. Suddenly there was a loud outburst, as though a window were breaking. All the first years turned and stared.

A group of headless, milky white figures seated on similarly colored horses had come through a window. The window wasn't broken, though. Kitty recognized them immediately from her dreams as a host of other ghosts arrived. She was fascinated, and a few of the ghosts began to speak to the other students. Suddenly, a curly-haired head popped out between the twins' plates.

"Hello there, Sir Mimsy Porpington at your service," the ghost declared, merrily pulling his head to one side as though tipping a hat.

He was headless, well nearly headless. A single strip of skin connected his head to his neck and kept the body part attached. Sir Mimsy Porpington had dark bags under his eyes, but a rather handsome face. He had a big smile as he greeted the first years, taking a particular interest in the Weasley twins because of their name. Kitty knew this ghost from stories of the Habersnaps, and this was Nearly Headless Nick the Gryffindor house ghost.

As Nick spoke with the twins, Kitty looked around. She noticed the other ghosts from her dreams and from the Habersnaps' stories. Someday, she thought, she'd catalog these ghosts in a booklet. She didn't exactly know why she wanted to; it just felt right.

After having been sorted into their houses, all the first year Gryffindors went with the Head Boy and Girl to the common room. Everyone was stuffed with the feast and tired from the day's excitement, but watching the changing staircases reawakened the group. The Common Room for Gryffindor was up in a tower and could be entered from the Seventh Floor by a painting. The Gryffindor entrance used passwords said to a painting of an opera singer in a pink dress. She was quite a bit snooty in Kitty's opinion. Apparently they called her the "Fat Lady;" it made sense since she was quite large.

"Oh, hello, my new dears!" the woman cried out as though trying to sing.

"Schwarma," Ronda said to the painting.

"Oh, come now, I wanted to greet the new ones…" the Fat Lady pouted, but she opened herself.

The painting swung forward, nearly knocking a few of the first years off their feet. Behind the painting was hidden a large circular tunnel. This would lead them inside to the Common Room.

When they entered the Common Room they found their luggage placed neatly in the middle of the large room. It was covered in various flags and banners representing Gryffindor, with large red curtains over the huge windows. The whole room was rounded which made sense considering the room's position in a tower. The red velvet chairs placed inside the room looked to be quite comfy, and Kitty noticed there was a chess set sitting by one of the windows. A large chalkboard was also placed in the room. Kitty could see a number of papers posted on the board.

The students began to pick up their luggage and were instructed that the dormitories for girls and boys were opposite of each other up the stairs. There were four beds in each room, except for in one girls' room and one boys' room. These rooms each had three beds. The students then rushed up the stairs as fast as they could, dragging their heavy suitcases up along with them. The rooms were, after all, first come, first serve.

The staircase to the girls' dormitories was rounded, and each landing had two rooms on it. The rooms toward the bottom were empty, so Kitty chose the lowest room. It was the room with only three beds. It seemed that favor was being given to the higher rooms with the extra bed. After placing her luggage, Kitty went up the stairs to see if the older students would have rooms considering that at least two or three rooms had been needed for the new girls. On the third landing she saw that the room had a nameplate on it, bearing the names of the students assigned to that room.

Kitty made her way back down to the Common Room to see if the twins were there. She wanted to say goodnight. On her way down she met her new roommates. Shana was very energetic, thin like a toothpick. She had brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Her curls reached just past her cheeks. Crystal was much different. She was slightly chubby and short. Her short, blonde hair matched her sweet blue eyes very well. The girls were all quite excited and greeted each other kindly. Though, for some reason Kitty felt uncomfortable around Shana.

Their room was well furnished. The large sky beds had red and yellow curtains hanging from the side, which one could close in case she wanted to have privacy. There was a large castle style window by the bed farthest from the door, which Kitty happily chose. By the side of each bed there was also a small table on which they could put their things. After checking out her room and greeting the girls, Kitty went down to meet up with the twins.

"You like your roommates, boys?" Kitty asked as she approached the two.

"Well just one, the boy Thomas, we got the first landing with three beds," Fred answered.

"Me too," Kitty replied, "Shana and Crystal, they seem pleasant."

"Well that's good," George nodded.

"So what exactly are you planning?" Kitty noticed the two boys were carrying a knapsack.

"We want to explore, just a little bit," Fred said beginning to open the knapsack, "You want to come along?"

"Come along where," a strong voice called out to them, and Ronda began to approach, "First years are not allowed to exit the Common Room the first night, as they have no idea how to find their way around yet."

"But we have a map!" Fred protested, retrieving a paper with a makeshift map on it in messy handwriting.

"Give me that," Ronda grumbled snatching the paper, "Where did you get this?"

"Our brother Charlie," George replied.

"Well then…I'm going to confiscate this until I've decided it doesn't travel to any restricted areas," Ronda replied.

"But that's our map," Fred groaned in unison with George.

"Well it's mine for the time being. It won't help you any tonight anyway, as you aren't allowed to leave without guidance this evening. I suggest you go to bed," Ronda gave them each a pointed look, including Kitty; though, her look softened to a smile; Kitty hadn't done anything after all.

"Spot of rotten luck," Fred grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Fred and George," Kitty replied.

"It's alright, we'll have to explore another time," George reasoned.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four- The Peeves Encounter

The next morning all the students were surprised, since it was a Friday and their first day at Hogwarts, to see the new post on the chalkboard. Their classes had been posted. They would start today. For some, like the twins, this was a great disappointment and ruined another hope to simply explore.

Each class had its classroom posted next to it. All first years were to take Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Flying lessons. Of all of these, Kitty was most interested in History; the textbook had delighted her when she'd read it at home. She studied the class list carefully.

"First Years Class List

Transfiguration: Thursday (second period) Classroom 1B with Professor McGonagall

Charms: Tuesday (first period) and Thursday (first period) Classroom 2E with Professor Flitwick

Potions: Monday (first period) Wednesday (first period) and Friday (first and second period) Hogwarts Dungeons with Professor Snape

History of Magic: Monday (second period) Classroom 4F with Professor Binns

Defense Against the Dark Arts: Monday (second period) Classroom 3C with Professor Tinus

Astronomy: Wednesday (Midnight) highest level of the Astronomy Tower with Professor Sinistra

Herbology: Wednesday (second period) greenhouses with Professor Sprout

Flying: Saturday (6 p.m.) Training Grounds with Madam Hooch"

Their first class ever was Potions with Professor Snape and the Slytherins. They'd take this class for twice as long as other classes, so the students were allowed to work on simple potions their first day. Kitty quickly found out this would be one of her least favorite classes. The subject itself, learning the correct way to brew potions using specific recipes and magical ingredients, was fascinating. The teacher and classroom, however, were rather frightening.

The room was square sized, with large worktables. The Gryffindors sat closely together. This only made it easier for Professor Snape, a black-eyed, and black-haired man with a pointed nose, to pick the Gryffindors out for his griping. His hair was rather greasy and to his chin. Even his voice was distasteful, rather snide and cold, constantly speaking in favor toward the Slytherins, his house, and constantly trying to take points from the Gryffindors.

The twins were a bleed of points here, being silly and playing with ingredients. Snape developed distaste for them immediately. No one seemed to mind from the Gryffindor group, though, as the twins amused them.

"You know, Snape is rather a baby," Fred elbowed Kitty gently as she worked on cutting a mouse-tail.

"Why's that?" she asked, still staying concentrated on her work.

"He's been begging for Defense Against the Dark Arts for years, but never gets the position."

"Dad says he was a Death-Eater in the war but turned to the good side, though some don't fully believe that," George said tossing an egg at the back of a Slytherin student's head, but missing and hitting Snape's shoes instead.

"That'll be twenty points for your foolishness, Weasley," Snape snarled.

Kitty thought she saw something sad in his eyes, some hidden story deep down. A scene began to play in those dark depths, a boy with dark messy hair, hanging him upside down using magic, a girl with red hair running over calling for it to stop. Fred elbowed her.

"What are you staring at him for?"

"Hoping he'll burst into flames?" George chuckled.

"Maybe something like that," Kitty grinned at them noncommittally, her mind on the scene in Snape's eyes.

Snape gave her a strange look and went to the stone basin by the class entrance. There he washed George's thrown egg off his shoes. This basin was the same one the students used to wash their hands before class. Kitty wondered if he also knew what she'd seen.

Kitty had never flown before and was eager to do so on Saturday before dinner. Each student was sent to a little shed at the Quidditch Pitch to retrieve a broom. The brooms were rather gnarled and old, some with missing bristles and others with splinters. Kitty and the twins managed to get a hold of some rather decent ones.

Madam Hooch was strict and ordered the students not to try to fly until after she had given them instructions on how, "I don't care how much you've flown at home," she called out, "here you will learn proper technique before attempting it."

Her bright yellow eyes were striking and her grey spiked hair gave her the appearance of a lioness. None of the students were interested in crossing her. One wrong move and she might just snap your neck for dinner.

When the students were finally allowed to swing their legs over their brooms and go to the height of ten feet, Kitty could hardly contain her joy. Her feet dangled over the ground, and she closed her eyes reveling in the light breeze and the sensation of weightlessness. She was disturbed from her moment of joy by Fred.

"Don't get too carried away, Kit, you're going to end up in trouble with the lioness."

Kitty opened her eyes, surprised that his voice sounded as though it was below her. It was a bit of a shock to see she was floating steadily higher above him. She focused on lowering herself and managed to do so just as Madam Hooch was turning around to look her way after helping another student who still couldn't understand how to hover.

Kitty smiled sheepishly at Fred, "Thanks a lot."

"No problem," Fred grinned and winked, "I can only ask the same in return."

The trio spent their Sunday rather lazily on the green outside near the lake. There was an octopus of some sort living in it, so the twins delighted in throwing stones into the lake for the octopus to catch and throw back. Ronda had delivered them their map after close examination. Some parts of the map had been erased by the Head Girl, irking the twins, so it was decided they would explore inside after lunchtime to hopefully recover the missing pieces.

As Kitty followed the twins from hallway to hallway she kept encountering ghosts around each corner. She was more fascinated by these images of people who had passed than by the secret passageways the twins showed her. There was something about them. By the time the group had explored the map halfway, they were rudely interrupted, however.

"What's this here?" a cackling voice called out.

The trio looked around. There was nothing to be seen and no one on the third floor landing with them in front of a painting of one of the founders of Hogwarts. Kitty looked at the paintings surrounding them, thinking perhaps one of the subjects inside had been the one to call out, but she found nothing.

"No one here but you chickens, and me I suppose," the voice called out again, "but am I really here?"

"Who's there?" Fred called back to the voice, "We're not afraid of you."

"Oh but you should be, you should be," the voice hissed.

Above on the fourth floor landing, more accurately floating in front of it, Kitty saw a ghost. He was tall and rather handsome in appearance. He had thick, dark colored curls and appeared to be of noble dress. At first, she was afraid, thinking the voice had come from this noble-looking ghost, but quickly she noticed he was just as frightened as she was. She clung to Fred and mouthed the word help to the ghost. He immediately took off, taking off his head as he went. Kitty nearly cried out after him to give him the message again. She hoped he was going for help.

"What do we do?" she whispered to the twins.

"Don't worry," George mumbled and Fred finished, "We think we know who he is."

"Do you now?" the laughing voice boomed, "Then just who might I be?"

"Peeves the Poltergeist," Fred and George called out, their voices seeming like a challenge.

"You are smart ones aren't you," the voice said, as if it was pleased.

Before their eyes a short, ghost-like shape began to appear. He had been cloaking himself until now, and Kitty was not all that happy to see him uncloaked. The specter had thick dark hair and orange eyes that glowed menacingly. His skin was almost pure white, whiter than the other ghosts she had seen around the castle, then again he was a poltergeist and not a ghost. Though, Kitty neither knew what that meant nor what difference it made.

"So what have you here?" the voice cackled again, ripping the map away from George's hands, "A little map, pretty extensive map it seems. What would you need this for, little firsties?"

"Just to explore is all," Fred replied, standing tall.

He took Kitty's hand, and she realized she'd been shaking in fear. Just then the noble ghost she'd seen from before reappeared and she recognized the other ghost he'd brought along. The Bloody Baron, ghost of Slytherin house, clearly recognizable by the silver spots of blood staining his clothes sparkling and dark sad eyes, came through the wall the young noble ghost had led him through.

"What are you up to Peeves?" the Baron's voice boomed loudly at the poltergeist.

"Oh nothing, your Baron-ness," Peeves bowed several times as he spoke, "just a spot of fun with some new firsties is all."

"Horace here woke me from my nap, you know," the Baron indicated the young noble ghost who gulped.

"I apologize deeply for disturbing your slumber, My Lord, I shall cease and desist immediately, your Baron-ness," Peeves sniveled, bowing again.

"See to it that you do."

The Baron floated off slowly through the wall he'd come from with the noble ghost. Peeves looked after him, fear evident on his face. The young noble ghost, Horace, stood with his head in his hands, literally holding it in front of his stomach, waiting for Peeves to disappear.

"Well then, I shall have to leave you, but this isn't over my little friends," Peeves said, before looking to the map he still held in his hands, "Won't need this anymore will you?"

As Peeves began to disappear his fingers started tearing the map to shreds. Only his hands remained visible until the map was completely torn apart. The twins gaped as tiny pieces of paper floated past the staircase to the halls below. Kitty patted them on the back before turning to Horace, who had floated down to the third floor landing.

"Thank you for helping us," she said kindly, reaching her hand out as though to shake his hand, "I'm Kitty."

"Horace of Edmonton, at your service," the ghost bowed and took her hand.

Kitty felt a shudder as his hand passed directly through hers. It was as if someone had dumped cold water all over her. The ghost sheepishly took his hand away.

"I apologize, it has been some time since I was among the company of the living," he declared, bowing his head sadly.

"Thanks none the less for the rescue," Fred finally spoke, having recovered from the loss of his map.

"It's too bad about your map, but I can offer you a service in exchange for its loss," Horace suggested.

"You already have done us a service," George reminded and Fred finished, "You saved us from the terror of Peeves, remember?"

"That I did, but I can only do so little. Only the Baron and Headmaster Dumbledore can control Peeves. Only one trio of students has ever befriended him, a particularly good group of prankster. They went by the names of Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs. There was a Wormtail as well, but he was weak and Peeves recognized it easily. That was years ago from what I heard. They were another generation"

"Well that's another service you've done us," Fred and George grinned answering simultaneously.

"What's that?" Horace asked surprised.

"Pranksters," George said with Fred finishing, "Meaning if we show him what big pranksters we are we'll befriend him too!"

"That is a dangerous task my friends, you'd have to do something rather large to control one such as Peeves. On another note, why would you want to?"

"One never knows what allies may come in handy in the future, Horace," Fred reasoned.

"I suppose I shall have to give you that one, but I'm not so sure you can gain the Poltergeist's affections."

"They can do it," Kitty smiled at Horace, "trust me."

The ghost placed his head back onto his neck, "I shall have to, I suppose. Still, I offer you help in navigating the castle, should you so desire."

"We greatly appreciate it," all three answered, and laughed at each other.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five- Ghostly Understanding

After Horace had shown them around the rest of the castle, the twins and Kitty were able to navigate the halls much more easily. They'd even learned of more portrait short cuts to make navigation of the castle much faster. The entire floor plan of the castle was strange and magical with moving staircases and hidden portals behind portraits. It was fascinating. Horace met up with the group often after classes or meals. This earned the group the title of ghost whisperers for a time.

Classes had begun again on Monday with Potions. Horace had shown the group a portrait that went directly from the Gryffindor tower's outer wall, next to the Fat Lady, to the Dungeons near the Slytherin's entrance. Apparently Gryffindors intending to wreak a little havoc on their rival house had created this shortcut. Of course, they had to be careful not to be caught by any Slytherins here, or they'd be turned in for trying to find the Slytherin Common Room, not that it would help anything, since they didn't know how to enter it, but still.

Using this short cut, the three were able to leave a little later for Potions class than the other students. This naturally sparked the interest of their classmates that the three didn't have to leave at the same time as the rest of them to get to the cold dungeons of the castle, but the twins reveled in the interest. Kitty thought they were the most social people she'd ever met.

Following Potions class, the trio had their first experience with History of Magic. If you could call it an experience at all. Kitty was extremely disappointed.

Before leaving them for their class Horace had told them, "Have fun, if you even can."

"What do you mean by that?" Kitty asked.

"You'll see, my friends."

The classroom was located on the first floor. It was a regular sized classroom with rows of desks and seats that curved to face and encircle the teacher's podium in the middle of the room. The walls were lined with old history books, most covered in dust from disuse, and Kitty could see a side room with a lock on it at the right of the room.

From the textbook, Kitty knew this year would be focusing on the Gargoyle Strike of 1911, Soap Blizzard of 1378, Werewolf Code of Conduct, Emeric the Evil, Uric the Oddball, Gaspard Shingleton, and Elfric the Eager. She had already read through each of the subjects and was excited for insight from the teacher. She'd never taken a traditional History class before, but her mother had taught her the basic history of the world through homeschooling with stories and use of a textbook. Kitty hoped this would be similar.

Professor Binns floated through the wall slowly as class was about to begin. Kitty was surprised to see that their professor was actually a ghost. She was amazed that a ghost could even be a teacher, and it was astounding to her, even the twins hadn't heard of this from their siblings and were surprised. She soon found out this wasn't all that interesting, though.

"Open your textbooks to page thirteen," Professor Binns droned monotonously and immediately began to read from the book, word by word.

Kitty found it hard to follow along and stay awake, so she watched the Professor as he spoke. He had obviously been balding when he was alive, and there was no sign from his appearance of foul play, unlike some of the other ghosts. Professor Binns kept his head down the entire time as he read from the textbook, his spectacles hanging forward on his nose. Since he was somewhat transparent, Kitty could see some of his books on the shelves through his body, which was rather uncomfortable.

Kitty soon noticed that every once in a while he would interject with a short lecture about the topic instead of simply reading from the book. He did this without raising his head, so it still seemed as though he was simply reading. These short lectures she was able to listen to without becoming drowsy, despite the Professor's monotonous and tired voice.

As Kitty looked at the Professor she felt his weariness. He seemed like an old man caught in an endless routine. She wondered at what his story might be and began to watch the page as he read to make notes of his small history lectures. Kitty doubted anyone else took notice of the added information because most of the students were either asleep or playing with their wands and other items. The twins had begun to snore, but Kitty managed to stay attentive, learning tidbits besides just what was in the books.

"How did you sleep?" Horace questioned as the trio exited Classroom 4F.

"Pretty well," the twins replied, their hair messy on one side from laying their heads on the desk.

"And you, Kitty?" Horace used his hand to tilt his head at her.

"I actually didn't," she smiled.

All three of her companions stared at her with gaping mouths.

"How in magic did you manage to stay awake?" Fred wondered.

"I took notes," she said showing them her textbook.

"You are an odd one, my dear," Horace smiled at her, leading them away to the great hall for food.

"Good day, Sir Horace," Nearly Headless Nick greeted the young ghost.

"Good day, Nick," Horace greeted in reply, "Listen, Nick, I've spoken with the leader of the Headless Hunt, but he is quite adamant that you still won't be allowed in. I apologize, I did my best, though he did say to try again next year."

"He always does," Nick frowned, a sad look in his dark circled eyes, "I can't help that my executioner didn't know how to do his job!"

"You certainly can't," Horace replied gently, reaching out to pat his fellow ghost.

It was strange to see Horace actually appear to touch something, as he always went through other things he touched. Kitty was fascinated that Nick did not seem to have the same reaction to a ghost's touch as others did, it was rather uncomfortable to be chilled to the bone, but apparently ghosts did not affect each other that way.

The Headless Hunt had a habit for turning down Nick to join the group, because he couldn't perform their stunts with his head still attached. Horace had only joined last year, and had tried to put in a good word. He was excellent at Headless Polo and Head Juggling on horseback. Kitty honestly understood why the Hunt would turn Nick down, but it was a thorn in his side. She thought they should just make him an honorary member to make him feel better.

Nick nodded sadly to the trio, his head falling and lolling to the side by its strip of skin, and bid them good day, floating on his way. The trio continued their walk. Horace, Kitty had noticed, tried to have the appearance of walking from time to time by moving his legs when he floated from place to place. This fascinated her.

"Come along to food, Kitty," Fred tugged her arm as they neared the Great Hall; he was obviously hungry.

"You two go ahead," she urged both of the clearly ravenous from their nap twins, "I'd like to ask Horace a few things."

"Suit yourself," the twins replied, practically running to the Great Hall's entrance, excited for food.

"What do you need, Kitty?" Horace questioned her as she took a seat on a nearby bench, and he floated into a seated position next to her.

He was just far enough away that he wasn't touching her. For that, Kitty was grateful. Even from this distance she could feel the cold emanating from his slightly transparent figure. She rubbed her right arm to keep warm.

"I was wondering about ghosts, Horace."

"Oh dear, did one of your relatives die?" Horace asked with a look of pure fright.

"No! Dear goodness, no, why would you think that?" Kitty asked.

"I was warned by the other ghosts when I came here," Horace said, breathing a sigh of relief, "It's a common question we're faced with when family members of the students die. They want to know what happens after death, and whether their family member will become a ghost, mostly if they'll ever see them again."

"I see," Kitty thought aloud, "that would certainly be a question for a ghost."

"That it is," Horace chuckled, his head tilting slightly, seeming as though it would fall off. Horace reached up to steady his head on his neck, "What was your question then?"

"Well mostly I wonder about everything to do with ghosts. How they're still here, if they can leave Hogwarts, why they're in Hogwarts in the first place, their stories…"

"That's a lot of questions. Let me answer a few of those for you. Ghosts certainly do have stories from when they were alive and from since they became a ghost. It is, however, very rude of me to tell you someone else's story. Though, ghosts find great pride in telling you the story of how they died, normally anyway."

"I see…"

"As for why we're here. The simple fact is, that we were afraid to die, afraid to reach out to oblivion. Most of the ghosts in this castle were executed, do you know why that is?"

Kitty shook her head and Horace answered, "When you're being executed, you have time to think of the oblivion, but only a short and terrifying time to contemplate that you are dying. You do everything you can to get out of it. As such, you try to reach out to the world and stay in it. That's how you become a ghost."

"But why Hogwarts? I've never seen a ghost anywhere else, though I have heard of them in other places."

"Well, I'm only a recent member of the Hogwarts ghosts."

"How does that work? Haven't you been…uh, dead…for a long time? You're obviously a noble from a long time ago right, and I'm sorry I'm being rude aren't I?"

"Not at all, my friend," Horace reached out as though to pat her shoulder, but decided against it, "I'll tell you my story, the whole story.

"I was born to a noble family in Edmonton, a place in upper England, in 1585. My family was rich, but my father died soon after, and only my mother and I were left, besides the servants. When I was twenty, my mother became deathly ill; sadly, I was in town at the time the illness struck her. A servant was sent immediately to fetch me, but when he arrived the horse was fatigued to death. Unable to find another way, since I'd left my wand stupidly at home, I stole a horse off a nearby nobleman, he was rather a distasteful fellow, but I was sure he would understand, and I assured the stable boy I would return the horse upon my mother's death or wellness again.

"Sadly, this horse died of fatigue also, the town was rather far away from our fortress. My mother also passed away. In grief, I was unable to return to the village for some time. When I finally did return, I brought enough money to pay for the horse I had taken. The nobleman I'd thought would have been reasonable with me, refused the money, saying the horse was invaluable, and sent me to the Queen's Guard of the town. I was put to death, and my fortune was given to the man I'd wronged.

"This seemed to please him, but not enough to drop his charges against me. He was an evil man, we'd all known he was not the kindest, but I could not understand such injustice. As a twenty year old, young man I naturally was not prepared for death. In May of 1605, the axe man chopped off my head, and I clung to life.

"I appeared soon after my death in my home fortress. All my servants were gone, and no one came to the house. It had been cleared of all its valuables. For many years I wallowed there in despair and sadness, until a group of people came to tear down the ruins of the old fortress. I decided I'd have to find a new home, and so I moved to Hogwarts, my alma mater as it were. There was no other magical place I could think of that I'd visited in my life."

"Why did you have to have visited it in your life?" Kitty interrupted.

"As an imprint on the Earth, we can only appear in places we've been before."

"That's why you can't enter the Gryffindor Common Room!" Kitty exclaimed, "You weren't a Gryffindor."

"Indeed, I was a happy Hufflepuff," Horace grinned, "Does that answer your questions?"

"Yes, just one last thing."

"What's that?" Horace queried.

"Do you think the ghosts here would mind sharing their stories, so I could write a history book on them?"

"You know I don't think most of them would mind at all," Horace smiled, "That's a fabulous idea."

"Will you help me find the ghosts of the castle?"

"Absolutely, my friend."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six- Peeved

Kitty and the twins followed the crowd of other Gryffindor first years to the Charms room, easily found on the third floor in the Charms Corridor. Horace had decided to begin questioning ghosts as to whether or not they would like to be a part of Kitty's project, so they had to found their way without him. It also meant they didn't see him most days, because there were so many ghosts in the huge castle. Thankfully, the trio was able to navigate short cuts and hidden chambers without their map, because Horace had helped show them around the building after its loss.

The twins were happy to have found a place at the back of the three rows of desks in the classroom to file into. The desk rows faced the teacher's desk, which had a large upholstered, high back chair. There was a blackboard on either side, behind that was positioned a small shelf with books and various knick-knacks under a pair of windows.

The Prefects were constantly stopping the twins because of their pranks and taking small point amounts from Gryffindor. The twins were out for revenge against them because of a recent confiscation of fireworks, so until the Professor showed up, the twins spent their time discussing possible tricks to pull on the Prefects. Upon his arrival, however, they became entranced by the lesson. Not surprisingly, considering the attitude and stature of Professor Flitwick.

The Professor was a strangely short man with bright white hair. This alone set him apart, but he was also very charismatic and clearly intelligent. He almost had to be, considering he was the Ravenclaw Head of House. After positioning himself on his high chair, created especially for him since he was too short to be seen otherwise, Professor Flitwick immediately started the class off learning how to cast new spells. It was fascinating, and not a single student seemed to be bored. Whereas History of Magic was viewed as a naptime, Charms was an energetic class.

By the time class was over, the students had been able to practice several simple spells. Among them was a levitation charm as well as a light charm. Kitty was among the first to achieve proper use of the spells, because she had already learned the spells and how to work them from reading the textbook. The twins were not far behind, however, because they seemed to have a talent for Charms in general.

After class, the twins decided on their Prefect prank.

"Basically the only tool we need is this clear string," Fred said excitedly as he retrieved a ball of string from his pocket.

"There's a Prefect's bathroom on one of the upper floors, and we're going to find it and barricade each of the sides."

"So, you're going to try and trip the Prefects?"

"Hopefully they'll be good sports," George nodded.

"You two are going to get in a lot of trouble. I doubt any of the Prefects have much of a sense of humor. They took your fireworks for a reason," Kitty attempted to reason with them.

"Well, it'll be good for a laugh," Fred grinned, "You can just hang out and watch until we're done."

"Okay, but I'm not saying it's a good idea. We might run into Peeves, you know."

Kitty was not happy about Peeves in any way. Often the poltergeist would show up to ruin the tricks of the twins; it was almost a game of who could come up with the best trick. The twins hoped to pull of the best possible trick at some point so that Peeves would respect their tricks. Kitty wasn't sure how long this would take, or how big it would have to be, but she was pretty sure Peeves would show up for their trick. Whether he would help or hinder was yet to be seen.

Fred and George chattered to Kitty excitedly about how the Prefects would react. They were each hoping to get Ronda back for taking their map the first day they had come. Kitty, of course, found this silly. It had been a long time since then, not to mention it hadn't been Ronda's fault that the map was lost.

"She gave it back to you; it was Peeves that destroyed it," Kitty reasoned.

"It doesn't matter who destroyed it," George replied.

"It's a 'you do something, I do something system,'" Fred agreed somberly.

"Do you really take pranking so seriously?"

"It's about making others happy, finding a little fun in serious situations," Fred began and George finished, "Not to mention bringing authorities down to the same level as everyone else."

"Why would you need to do that?" Kitty wondered.

"Every once in a while…" George murmured, and Fred finished for him without pause, "we all need a friendly reminder that we are all the same. No one is more important than anyone else, and we all need to remember to treat others as such."

"You guys are cute," Kitty smiled, and when Fred smiled back, she blushed a little.

"We're not cute, we're pranksters," the two replied in unison.

The twins found a pair of pillars on either side of the Prefect bathroom. They were careful to hide behind the pillars while they wrapped several rounds of the string around the pillars. Peeves was yet to be seen, but Kitty suspected he was somewhere nearby cloaking his presence. As Prefects walked by Kitty sitting on the bench near the bathroom, they would look around carefully and skeptically ask her if she was alone.

"Well, I'm sitting by myself, so yes," she'd reply with a smile.

"I suppose that is true, but I suspect your friends the Weasley twins are up to something," one of the Prefects said, looking around him carefully.

"They're always up to something," she replied.

As the twins were finishing up wrapping the final pair of pillars they retrieved a pair of dung bombs. Fred stood by the left pillars, and George was on the right. Thankfully, Kitty was positioned between the two sets of pillars, so she wouldn't be hit by the stink.

Fred was just about to give the signal, when a stern voice called out, "Fred and George, what are you doing here?"

Kitty looked towards the voice to see a tall and lanky boy with the same red hair as the twins. He was easily recognizable from the few times the twins had pointed him out to her in the Gryffindor Common Room. Percy Weasley stopped a few feet away, recognizing the object in Fred's hands.

"You are really not going to throw that dung bomb at me are you?" he grumbled at the twins, giving them each a look.

"Well, that wasn't the original plan," George said, lowering his arm.

"What are you doing in the Prefect's Corridor, Perce," Fred questioned his elder brother.

"Percy. What am I doing here? I was sent here to find out what _you_ were doing. You can't keep doing all these tricks; you're giving me a bad name. All my chances at Prefect are going to be ruined because of you!" Percy raged at his brothers before catching eye of Kitty, "Please tell me you aren't _helping _them."

"No…I'm just," Kitty began to explain herself.

"She never helps," Fred responded for her, protectively stepping in front of Percy's view of her, "She tries to talk us out of it. Kitty is just taking a break."

Percy sighed exasperatedly, "Fine. But I'm taking these dung bombs, now."

Percy began to reach for the dung bomb Fred still had in his hand. Just as he was about to grab it, he was interrupted by a loud cackle. Peeves appeared over Percy's shoulder, causing him to shout and jump back.

"Don't ruin my fun you boring Weasley boy. I likes to pull tricks on the perfect Prefects; yes, I do."

Peeves began to fly in circles around Percy while cackling. Percy attempted to swat Peeves away, but his hands went right through Peeves's ghost-like figure. The cackling began to get so loud that Prefects started to appear at the door of the bathroom, gaping at the events transpiring in front of them.

"Now Weasley boys, before they try to escape!" Peeves commanded with an evil grin.

Kitty took off and hopped over the clear string just as the boys tossed their dung bombs directly at the Prefects. Originally, the plan had been to cause a diversion with the dung bombs to draw the Prefects out, making them trip over the string, but now they were covered in smelly smoke. Unable to see very well, the Prefects took off trying to escape the billowing stench, tripping over each other and getting caught in the string.

Peeves cackled uncontrollably, still playing with Percy. After observing their work and laughing, George ran off down his side of the corridor, and Fred grabbed Kitty, grinning from ear to ear, taking her along down the left corridor.

"Your brother is going to kill you," Kitty shouted to Fred over the commotion.

"I don't care; this was great!" he shouted back, "We've got Peeves on our team!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven-Tips on Tricks

Defense Against the Dark Arts was located on the third floor. Horace was accompanying the trio on their way from the Gryffindor tower. They'd left early so the twins could scout out hiding nooks and crannies for future tricks. Several paintings waved at the group as they passed by. The castle always seemed so alive to Kitty.

"Do we have any more ghosts interested in sharing their stories with me, Horace?"

"I've spoken to several ghosts and they would be very happy to share their stories with you," Horace shared, as he set his head in its place on his neck, "There may be one willing to meet with you following your lesson. Peeves has been pestering us all lately, though, so most of us are hiding out at the moment in hidey holes we knew while students here."

"How interesting," Kitty replied thoughtfully, "it amazes me the memory that ghosts living for centuries retain…I did notice lately that I wasn't seeing as many ghosts at the dinners, but I hadn't really thought about it."

"Well, it's not incredibly strange for us to take some time to ourselves during the school year. The Headless Hunt does prefer to stay out in the open most of the time to perform for the students' dinners, but Peeves really has been a bother. He seems to be planning something."

"That's…intriguing, but I was thinking if it would be possible to get Peeves involved as well," Kitty looked at her ghostly friend hopefully.

"I…I'm not sure that would be the best idea. I certainly am not one who would want to ask…" Horace mumbled apologetically.

"I'm sure we could convince Peeves," Fred looked to his brother who gave a nod of agreement.

"Somebody called?" a cackling voice sounded from behind the group.

The group turned to look, but no one was there. Kitty knew, of course, who was speaking.

"Peeves," she called out rather tentatively, "I have a favor to ask of you."

"A favor for a firsty?" the voice questioned as a black-haired head appeared with gleaming orange eyes.

"Just a history of your life," Kitty smiled, rather frightened by the mischievous glint in Peeves's eyes.

"Favor for favor," he cackled.

"What favor? Fred gently slipped his hand into Kitty's, which was shaking.

"I want tricks, I want a big trick, I want tricks in the future," Peeves cackled as if he were singing a song, "and you can do them for me!"

George grinned, "Well, we can certainly do big tricks, and in return, you give Kitty your story."

Peeves cackled again, "Yes my friends, let me give you a hint." He floated around the group's heads, Horace hiding in the corner, "Filchy keeps a map from my favorite tricksters long ago. It's in his office. I want you to get it and use it for tricks."

"And you're helping us, just so you can get tricks?"

"I like to trick, especially Filch and his nasty cat."

Kitty knew that Peeves was talking about the Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris. He would often have to clean up after Fred and George played tricks, meaning he gave them constant dirty looks. Filch and his cat patrolled the halls at night, and Mrs. Norris was known for running to find Filch if she saw anything. Wherever they were near, it was a bad idea to try anything. Peeves and Filch had a mutual dislike.

"And then you'll tell Kitty your story?" Fred asked.

"If your trick on Filch deserves it, yes," Peeves grinned and it was as though his face had been split in half.

Thomas, the twins' roommate, came running by. Peeves had already disappeared, and Horace had also left. He really didn't like Peeves. Thomas's brown curls bounced as he ran up to the twins.

"Hey, I thought I was going to be the only one running to class last minute," his brown eyes shone at the twins before he gave Kitty a look and large smile, "We're going to be late for Defense Against the Dark Arts if we don't hurry."

Thomas reached out his hand as though to take Kitty's and start running with her, but Fred took it instead, "Thanks for the reminder, roomie."

"No problem," Thomas replied, rather grumpily.

Outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Kitty noted the plaque stating that no curses were allowed here. Though to her this seemed odd, considering this was supposed to be the class teaching how to defend against curses.

Kitty looked at the large dragon skeleton hanging from the ceiling. In a way, this made her sad, but it also fascinated her. The twins' brother Charlie was studying dragons in Romania, and Kitty desperately wanted to meet him to learn about them. Kitty and the twins sat in the desks toward the middle of the classroom to avoid the shadow of the large iron chandelier at the back. Thomas took a seat directly behind Kitty, a different one than his usual position next to Shana and Crystal.

It wasn't long before Professor Tinus began the day's lesson on winter pixies. She stood at the front of the class, her long, white hair reaching the floor in an elegant braid. As the Professor taught, her hair would swing back and forth, often hypnotizing some of the students to sleep. She'd spent almost her whole life studying pixies, taking only a year's break to teach this year at Hogwarts. Professor Tinus would be returning to her pixie studies after the completion of this year.

"You know why she has to leave after this year?" Thomas poked Kitty in the back.

"To study deadly pixie races in Australia, like she told us the first day," Kitty responded, pointedly taking notes, exaggerating the movement of her quill to show Thomas she was not interested.

"Well, really it's..."

"It's because no one has tried teaching for longer than a year since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named asked for the position without meeting with an unfortunate end," Professor Tinus interrupted, "I'm sure most of the students are aware, Master Cromwenth. I do not intend to meet with such an accident. Now, please pay attention to the lesson today; winter pixies are rare breeds that can be very dangerous," Professor Tinus continued with the lesson, "We have a certain breed of these pixies whose burps freeze whatever they touch here in the Forbidden Forest called Mistrels…"

Kitty noticed the twins had begun to take notes. Fred turned his head and smiled at her, pointing with his quill to some writing on his page.

"We need to go to the Forbidden Forest and try to find these!"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight- Forgiven at Christmas

Kitty was leaving the next day for holidays at home. Her mother had sent a letter saying Kitty would be taking the train from Hogsmeade to King's Cross Station and spending Christmas at home. The twins had been told to stay at Hogwarts this year; the family wasn't able to pay for the tickets because of an unfortunate accident with their brother Ronald that had to be paid for. The twins weren't all that surprised, but Kitty was sad she would have to travel to the London station without them.

She looked around the winter landscape. From her position on watch she could see Hagrid's hut as well as the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Kitty had already seen Hagrid disappear along the forest road to Hogsmeade. The twins had gotten information from the older students that Hagrid always went on that path to collect the customary twelve Christmas trees for the Great Hall Christmas displays.

All the other decorations were already prepared for the holidays. There were holly and mistletoe decorations in almost all of the halls and classrooms, often prompting some fuss from the teachers toward the eager older students placing themselves a little too long under the mistletoe. The Grand Staircase was hung with icicles, and no matter how long you held onto the cold spires they refused to melt, an enchantment, of course.

The students were awaiting the decorated Christmas trees under the Great Hall ceiling, which was snowing. The snow was warm, though, and the students enjoyed it during meals. An older student told the twins how there would normally be small group of fairies with no particular special abilities caught by the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor to fly around the Christmas trees and delight the students. This had given the twins an idea.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Fred whispered to his brother.

"Capturing some special fairies to spread some fun?" George replied.

"Of course that's what the two of you would think of…" Kitty groaned, "You're going to get in terrible trouble messing with a magical creature."

"As long as we treat them well…" George began with Fred finishing the sentiment, "and no one finds out…" the two finished together, "We'll be fine!"

Kitty had refused to join the two on their quest into the Forbidden Forest to capture the creatures. Due to this, she had been appointed "the watch" by Fred. That was the standard for their friendship.

"Basically your normal job of watching, except this time you'll help us; bring Mansha, and send her up into the air as soon as you see Hagrid coming back with a tree. We'll just exit the Forest quietly without being seen, or we'll already be exiting with the fairies I hope."

Kitty's winter robes were made of thick wool and kept her warm as the snow continued to fall, quickly filling the sets of footprints the twins had left trailing off toward the forest. She wondered if Mansha's feathers were thick enough to hold out against the winter chill; she was, after all from a warmer region of the world. Her brown and grey feathers stood out easily in the white scenery.

Mansha snuggled close against Kitty's robes to stay warm. Kitty gently preened the owl with her fingertips after removing one of her red and gold gloves. She played with the silver buckle on her robes, trying to make an opening for the owl to cuddle inside for warmth. Hogwarts was beautiful and to Kitty it had become a second home. She could see the others felt the same way. It would be easy to leave for Christmas, but she knew that some day she would have to leave, probably forever, but there was no use being sad for something that was years away.

Mansha cooed softly and preened her mistress's hair. Kitty smiled at her pet and stroked her feathered head gently. As she looked out at the path, she squinted, noticing some slight movement. Hagrid's head started to appear over the hill. Kitty raised her hand to send Mansha off into the air, but the bird only ruffled her feathers.

"What's wrong, darling? Are you still cold?" Kitty asked, worried that the twins would get caught if she couldn't send Mansha to the air quickly enough, but the owl only looked off towards the forest where other shapes were emerging.

Fred and George burst out of the forest, Fred holding closed a box with holes punched into the sides. Hagrid had by now cleared the hill and could see the two emerging clearly. Kitty sighed and shook her head; she had expected exactly this outcome.

"Ey, you two. Ya' stop righ' there," Hagrid's booming voice called out, and the smiles on the faces of the twins quickly disappeared. "Wha' da' ya' think yer' doin' ou' in da' Forbidden Fores'?"

The Hogwarts gamekeeper dropped the tree he'd been carrying, by himself surprisingly, and began to stride over to the two. Kitty thought for sure the tree was larger than her house in Truscan. Hagrid's long legs made it quickly to the twins and she began to run over too, worried about her friends, as usual.

"We were just…respecting nature?" Fred hastily looked for an excuse, flashing his signature grin.

"Wha's' in the box then, Masters Weasley?" the normally jovial gamekeeper raised a bushy eyebrow at the two.

At this point, it was too late to deny the two had brought something out of the forest. The box was wriggling in Fred's hands as he pressed the lid down. Each of the holes was full of little hands and fingers poking out, trying to grab onto something. Mansha was watching these hands eagerly, probably thinking of food. Hagrid reached out and took the box from Fred; it looked tiny, almost disappearing in his hands. The gamekeeper took a peek inside of the box.

"Ya' two oughta' know better," Hagrid's voice rumbled as he closed the lid gingerly, his hands more gentle than Kitty had expected they could be, "Yer' brother Charlie 'elped me take such good care o' the animals in da' forest. A' least these fairies seem ta' be doin' alrigh', wha' were ya' doin' wid' 'em, boys?"

George opted for the truth, "Taking them to the trees in the Great Hall, since they have special abilities. We thought it would be more fun than the normal ones, if these ones froze parts of the trees and what not…" Fred simply nodded in agreement, and Kitty watched anxiously with Mansha on her arm. In a way she was equally proud of the twins for telling the truth and embarrassed that they would come up with such childish schemes. Still, she loved their harebrained ideas. They were utterly genius in their simplicity.

"Well I suppose since ya' din' hurt these ere' fairies, I'll jus' return 'em ta' da' forest. But yer' na' ta' do this again, ya' hear?" the gamekeeper looked at the two gravely, and they nodded.

As Hagrid walked away to replace the fairies in the forest, the two boys smiled at each other with large grins, "That was fun."

"What are you talking about? You got caught!" Kitty responded utterly confused.

"Good experience my friend," George replied, "Good experience."

"It's not always about whether you caught. It's the fun of trying," Fred spoke with one finger raised in the air as though he were Aristotle or some other famous scholar.

Kitty just shook her head and rolled her eyes; perhaps she would be happy for a break from her two friends after all.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine- Preparing for the Final Trick

The trio entered the now familiar Transfiguration classroom located on the ground floor, near the Middle Courtyard in Classroom 1B. This room was big, surrounded by beautiful high, windows. There were four rows of three desks, with several cages and bookshelves. Two chalkboards sat against the wall and a desk was at the front. There were many candlesticks behind the desk. By now, the candlesticks had wax trails going down to the floor. Apparently, Filch didn't like to clean candle wax.

When Kitty and the twins arrived at class, slightly late due to a run in with Head Girl Ronda, they took just a minute to look around before finding a seat toward the front of the class. The twins grumped at this, having wanted a seat at the back, away from the teacher; they were planning on discussing how to retrieve the secret map Peeves had told them about before Christmas break. Kitty was glad the professor appeared to be absent, though a particularly aware cat sat on her desk.

Kitty was also disappointed that the three hadn't arrived early. While most of the students had a tendency to sit in their normal seats, seats toward the back were coveted spots and would be quickly snapped up if not filled by the time class was meant to start. Kitty again noted the cat on the Professor's desk; she'd never seen it before. Some of the other students had cats, one of the few approved castle pets, and of course, Filch had his cat Mrs. Norris. Kitty would have recognized Mrs. Norris anywhere, though, and she couldn't think to whom this cat would belong that it would be sitting on Professor McGonagall's desk. Perhaps it was the professor's cat.

The cat was grey with black stripes. It had a strange pattern of spots over its eyes resembling a pair of spectacles. Kitty was admiring it as she started to retrieve her supplies from her bag including quill, wand, book, and a notebook. She noticed the cat's eyes were attentive on the twins, which was odd, as cats usually didn't tend to stare at anything but moving prey.

"What a loss," George grumbled, taking out his wand and books.

"There's no easy trickery completed in the front of the class," Fred agreed, just as upset.

Kitty looked at the twins and back to the cat, only to be thoroughly surprised. The cat had begun to change shape, elongating and growing taller. Kitty wasn't the only one who'd noticed now; there was a collective gasp from the class.

"There will be no trickery in this classroom at all, Masters Weasley," the cat, now the tall and thin frame of Professor McGonagall, with her stern mouth, spoke, "I dare say, your mother warned about your tendency toward trickery at home. At first, I was eager to see more Weasleys in my house. Your elder brothers were excellent students. I still had not expected the great loss of points from Gryffindor house you continue to cause us. We certainly won't be winning the house cup with you around."

Kitty noticed the slightest of smiles, despite the stern look. The twins hushed except for two large mouthed grins, they seemed to have been subdued. She was still amazed by the Professor's transformation. Professor McGonagall moved to her seat behind the desk while whispers of surprise and awe began to grow louder.

"Nor will excessive noise be accepted," the room silenced at her command, "Open your textbooks to page three hundred. We will begin today's lesson with the definition of Animagus."

The class had learned that the basics of Transfiguration were quite hard to master since the first class. They had not even been allowed to attempt it until their second class period with Professor McGonagall. This topic was considered as one of the most difficult to master and as the most scientific magic that could be learned. Basically, what Kitty learned, was that the art of Transfiguration was to change the form and appearance of one object into another. Animals as well as objects could be changed, and this explained the Professor's own Transfiguration at the beginning of class, a way to demonstrate Animagus to the class.

The twins were again excitedly planning their trick on Filch as they left the room, Kitty following closely behind and laughing at them. They were planning on using a distraction technique for Filch and Mrs. Norris.

"You'd really try something after her reprimand?"

"Certainly," Fred said, George finishing, "she basically challenged us with that half smile."

As the twins kept planning their "work" as they called it, Kitty was constantly given the job of "the watch" as they collected supplies. Kitty would go visit the gamekeeper Hagrid a few times as well. This was not just because she enjoyed his company, but also because the twins liked to sneak into the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The biggest attraction to it obviously being that it was forbidden, but they also needed supplies from the forest to build their very own fireworks. If Kitty wasn't with Horace getting ghost stories for her own project, she was helping the twins by visiting Hagrid.

Kitty smiled, knocking on the large wooden door in front of her. She had walked down to visit Hagrid in his hut at the edge of the forest. The twins had decided to go exploring, so she would spend the free day with Hagrid and his dog, Fang. Besides, she had a few questions about magical creatures. The door opened and she smiled at the large, burly man.

"Kitty! It's good ta' see ya'!"

"Hello, Hagrid. I was wondering if I could have tea with you and Fang. I have some questions about magical creatures that I'm sure you could answer for me."

"Why of cour' I can. I know all abou' the lil' buggars. C'mon in."

He placed two large mugs on the table and set the tea kettle on its hook above the fire before placing his special rock cake on the table. Kitty knew better than to attempt to eat this cake as it felt like it actually had pebbles inside of it. The raisins were hard enough to crack teeth. Fang, the large, black boarhound ran over to her, his jowls dripping with drool. Kitty smiled and patted his head. He sat politely next to her as she scratched him behind the ears.

"So, what is it ya'd like ta know?" Hagrid sat across from her at the table.

"Do ghosts count as magical creatures?"

"Well, tha's a difficult one…not exactly, Kitty. They are bu' they count as a form o' da' humans," Hagrid's brows were knit together, "Honestly, they don' really count anywhar' else. I'm sorry, I can' really help ya' with em'."

"Well, that's alright. I'll have to search around the library a little more, " Kitty soothed the burly man.

Hagrid rose to get the tea, "Ya' do love tha' library."

Kitty saw the twins loping around at the edge of the forest through the window and as Hagrid started to turn toward the window, she quickly diverted his attention, "I was wondering whether there had ever been any dragons inside of the castle."

"Now wha' would lead ya' to think tha'?" Hagrid immediately turned right back to her. Dragons were among a list of his absolute favorite creatures.

"I was searching through books about the castle one day, and I found a section on a strange room. It had burn marks all over the walls and scrapings from what seemed to be large talons. There were also broken chains."

"Well ye' at one time there wa' a dragon in thar' to teach the students abou' them. Of cour' they moved the dragon becau' he wa' in so much pain in thar,'" Hagrid started to get teary eyed just thinking about it.

"I'm sorry Hagrid. I didn't mean to upset you."

"Na' it's na' you Kitty, it wa' jus' so beautifu' to see tha' creature fly away," Hagrid retrieved a large polka dotted handkerchief from one of his pockets and blew his nose into it making the sound of a trumpet, "Tha' skeleton in da' room for Defense Agains' da' Dark Arts is from when e' died later."

Kitty spent long hours with Hagrid talking about creatures he had owned or the castle had kept within its walls. All the while the boys ran around in the forest trying to find the necessary ingredients for their plans for Filch. They didn't find any werewolves at least. After finishing their search the two would also come for a quick spot of tea, after cleaning off in the castle so Hagrid wouldn't be suspicious.

One afternoon during free time as the twins worked on composition of their fireworks they started an odd discussion. Kitty was sitting between the two chairs the boys had seated themselves upon and had started practicing turning Mansha into a silver goblet for the upcoming Transfiguration exam. The boys started to argue about Snape and the old caretaker, Mr. Filch.

"Well I think Snape is far more disgusting. He never washes his hair, and his nose is so pointed it looks like a beak. In fact, it's so pointed that when he talks it sounds like someone is pinching his nose. His coal black eyes aren't helping him anywhere either, and neither is his strange love for dressing in only an old, black, button up robe," George made his argument.

"I say Filch. He's basically married to his cat! All he needs is to legalize marrying a pet. I'm positive he's never brushed those yellow, black, and brown teeth. He actually smells like grease. He's also starting to bald in the front yet he has extremely thin long grey hair_. _It's longer than Kitty's!" Fred returned.

Kitty, overhearing her name falling into the same argument, in which Filch had been mentioned, looked back at Fred, "Hey, why are we bringing my hair into the mix? It's much prettier than Filch's," Kitty protested.

"You might want to consider getting a new haircut," Fred teased.

She frowned and threw a crumpled piece of paper at him, "My hair is perfectly fine, thank you very much!"

"Didn't say it wasn't. Of course it is," Fred soothed, stroking a lock of hair that had landed over her eyes back behind her ear.

Her freckles were barely noticeable, as she blushed looking into his eyes. The world fell away and then she was watching him putting a necklace around her neck and kissing her. She blinked, breaking off the thought. She had almost forgotten about her visions from looking into the eyes of others. Kitty returned to practicing on Mansha.

"Thanks, Fred," her voice was a whisper as she thought.

"Hey, how do you always know which of us is which, by the way?" George asked, snapping her concentration on Mansha, a light explosion coming from her wand, nearly hitting the bird.

Kitty quickly soothed her owl before shrugging at George, "There's just something different about the two of you. What made you think of it?"

"Just something I've been wondering for a while," George mumbled, returning to his firework notes.

"Are you excited to watch the final game tomorrow? If we win, maybe Slytherin's House Cup winning streak will end."

"Duh! What honest Gryffindor wouldn't be excited for that?" the boys replied.

"I'm excited. Though Gryffindor certainly won't be winning the Cup, even if we win the game."

"At least a win would keep Slytherin from winning. I'd rather Hufflepuff win than Slytherin," Fred chuckled.

"Hey, Hufflepuff aren't so bad as everyone says, you know."

"I know, but under that argument, neither are all Slytherins," George advised.

"Don't go getting soft on me," Fred laughed as he elbowed his brother.

"What are you boys doing?" a sharp voice arose, belonging to Percy who began to stride over.

The twins quickly covered their notes, "Nothing Perce, just talking about the game."

Percy rolled his eyes and crawled into the circular exit of the Gryffindor tower. The trio again began to chuckle at each other and their luck.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten- Hard Hit

The game was on! All the students were in their seats high up in the air where they could see the action. There was loud cheering and booing as the rival teams were fighting for a win. One of the Gryffindor beaters had fallen from his broom and was out of the game. Thankfully, he hadn't been horribly injured, but he wasn't in a fit state to play.

The Slytherin team was guarding their goal area heavily, and the Gryffindors were having trouble getting the quaffle into their hoops. However, one of the Slytherin players was hogging the ball, which made it that much easier to get the quaffle from him. They started racking up points within a few minutes. The announcer in the stands was busy yelling out the names of the Gryffindor team. Several of the players even started performing tricks as they were playing.

Kitty loved the excitement of watching Quidditch live. Before coming to Hogwarts, she had only seen the game on TV. The whole crowd buzzed with excitement, stirring her nerves higher and higher. She hung from the front row, hanging onto the rail, cheering for her team with the twins right beside her.

It wasn't long before the Slytherin beaters developed a nasty habit of purposely aiming the bludgers for the other players' heads. They were specifically aiming for the keeper. The trio had been lucky enough to get seats directly behind the Gryffindor goal post, allowing them to watch the bludger action.

Some boy in the row behind them was giving his own commentary besides that of the actual student announcer. He was rather fun to listen to as he went on about how Slytherin was wasting an opportunity to win in a fair fight and how that refusal to win fairly was what proved their inferiority as a team.

Someone called out Kitty's name in the middle of the action, and she turned to see who it was. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain to the back of her head, and she dropped to the ground. The pain of falling didn't really register in comparison to the splitting pain in her head. Now the Gryffindors were screaming about foul play and Kitty could hear the Slytherins screaming in return. Her vision began to blur, slowly fading.

Someone had their arms around her and she tried to stagger to a seat, instead she fell to the floor in a heap all over again. She fought to keep consciousness, but everything went black. There were no more sounds from the stands or any excitement from the game.

He was stroking her hair, his arm wrapped around her. She was lying on his chest tilting her head upwards to meet the gaze of the boy she loved. Fred Weasley smiled down at her, the smile spreading deep into his eyes.

He started softly calling her name, "Kitty, Kitty, wake up," his voice was soft, as if it were far away, but it grew closer and closer.

"But, I am awake, silly," she reached up to touch his face but he started fading away, unreachable in the distance growing quickly between them.

The next thing Kitty knew, the dream was gone. She opened one eye, then the other, to a familiar face. The back of her head was pounding and it was as if she could feel the blood rushing through her head. She heard a strange ringing noise and gently touched her fingers to the throbbing. Kitty quickly removed her hand, but the stinging pain remained.

"Hey, sleeping beauty, you're up," Fred smiled.

"Don't mess with me right now, Fred. I think my head's going to explode, then there's these stupid dreams and visions," she grumbled but, noticing the confused on Fred's face, quickly changed the topic, "Where's George?"

The ringing had stopped now, but the throbbing pain refused to go away. Kitty chanced a look at her fingers there was some dried and wet blood there, bright red on her pale fingertips. Fred, sensing her growing panic, continued speaking to her, gently taking her hand and wiping it with a nearby towel. There was already some blood staining the white fabric, and Kitty assumed it had been used as a cushion for her head.

"Sorry, he's coming back with Madam Pomfrey. She's treating that guy in the infirmary right now, the one that fell from his broom. You sure I can't mess with you? That makes my day awful boring."

Kitty smiled and rolled her eyes, despite the pain, she could still find Fred funny, "Sometimes I can't stand you."

"Eh, you know you love me," he mumbled and gently ran a hand through her hair.

"What're you doing?" she looked at him curiously.

"I'm just feeling for the bump," he smiled with his usual charm.

Kitty looked around the room. The grey walls, lockers, and doors to changing rooms told her she was in the team locker room. She was on a bench across from the broom rack. Kitty tried to remain focused on her surroundings, noting the Gryffindor robes hung on the wall and objects strewn on the floor to keep her mind off the throbbing pain in her skull.

Then a thought struck her, "Is the game over?"

"Not yet, but the snitch has been sighted, so anytime now. Gryffindor is winning so don't worry about that," he soothed just as the nurse entered the room with George.

Kitty had only seen this woman at dinner but knew she was a fussy old witch. From the set of her mouth Kitty could also see that the woman was incredibly strict. It seemed to her that almost all witches were incredibly strict. Madam Pomfrey removed her wand from her apron and turned her attention to Kitty, her blue eyes staring the young witch down.

"What seems to be the damage?" the witch murmured, quickly inspecting Kitty. Madam Pomfrey's wand began to glow and she moved the wand slowly back and forth over and around Kitty, "I see then," she mumbled.

"Well then, don't worry that's a quick fix. You'll feel better in no time. I'll just fix up the bump for you. You might still have a small headache afterwards, but it'll disappear before too long," satisfied with her examination, the Madam now had a wide smile and seemed less frightening.

The nurse muttered a spell and pointed her wand at Kitty. A yellow glow flowed from the tip like smoke, slowly surrounding the patient. Kitty could feel the pain drifting away. There was a strange feeling of warmth flowing through her, and the pounding in her head became a slight headache. She nervously reached back up to touch the back of her head and this time the bump was gone.

"Thanks, Madam Pomfrey!"

"No problem, but you won't be watching anymore of the game today," at her word, Kitty and the twins' faces fell. "Well don't be so upset, I'm sure you'll hear the outcome soon. Such a nasty barbaric game, all the injuries, exactly why I don't watch the sport. I simply wait for the inevitable patients in the Hospital Wing," the nurse griped, placing her wand back in her apron and bidding them good day, "I'll soon have other students in the infirmary to deal with," she huffed before exiting the Gryffindor Quidditch hut.

"If you hope to get on the team next year, you'll have to do better than getting hit with bludgers when distracted," Fred teased.

"You weren't even playing!" George agreed.

"Oh shut up, my expertise can't be tested as a spectator," Kitty laughed, kicking the two playfully, her good mood returning with the lessening of her pain.

"Exactly."

Fred patted his brother's back, standing up from the bench. Kitty tried to do the same, but stumbled slightly. Fred offered her his hand, and she took it gratefully; he gave her a gentle squeeze along with a small smile. Kitty smiled back sheepishly, a blush spreading over her face, and they walked out of the locker room just in time to hear the end of the game.

"Slytherin catches the snitch; the game is over! Gryffindor didn't rack up nearly enough points with the final score at 170 to 140. The game is won!" the announcer called out excitedly.

"You have got to be kidding me…" all three grumbled, Slytherin would be winning the House Cup after all.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven- Impatient Peeves

The library was hushed; only a few students were seated at desks or milling about. Kitty, Shana, and Crystal had come to study for their History exams. The test was an oral exam given by Professor Binns, which almost no one was prepared for; Kitty, though, didn't really need to study, having paid attention during classes as the only one awake at them, but Shana and Crystal were frantically trying to catch up.

"This Ulric guy is just making life difficult…" Shana grumbled, putting down her book and retrieving a small mirror, applying a thin layer of pink, sparkling lip-gloss.

"Ulric the Oddball you mean?" Kitty asked.

"Whatever," Shana groaned.

Madam Pince looked up and an echo of shushing filled the room, the enchantment silencing everyone in the room quickly. Some of the others nearby quickly moved to their table and shoved their books hurriedly in front of their faces as though reading studiously. Crystal kept her nose down in her book. The dark-haired woman looked around the room once more before returning to her work, placing library books on magical racks that would stack them and place them in their proper spots.

All of a sudden, there was a loud creek. The entire room looked around, searching for the source of the sound. A shelf of books that reached all the way up to the ceiling began to tilt, slowly. Madam Pince quickly flicked out her wand, but it was too late. The shelf began to fall and hit another shelf, creating a domino effect. Students in the aisles started running for the door. Due to the enchantment, they looked like they were screaming, but no sound came out. It was more frightening and confusing than the scene would have been with noise. The only sounds were the crashing of the shelves and students' feet hitting the floor.

Kitty and her two friends stood to make their own exit when a head suddenly popped out of the table they had been sitting at. Orange eyes gleamed at the girls and a loud cackle began to fill the room, getting louder and louder to the point where everyone had to cover their ears. Even with their fingers in their ears, the cackle resounded loud in their minds, as though bouncing off the walls of their skull.

"You stop this right now, Peeves!" Madam Pince cried out, ending his terrible racket but also the enchantment. Now everyone really was screaming.

"You must tell them to make the trick, little firsty girl, or I will continue to haunt you!" Peeves called out teasingly, looking directly at Kitty before he jumped into the air to the ceiling and began to speed towards her like a diver to a pool.

Kitty and her friends took off running, Shana letting out a strangled cry that sounded like a birdcall. They streaked from the room and ran down the hall toward the Grand Staircase. As they ran, Peeves' cackle followed them, so they ran harder, gasping for air and their muscles burning.

"Stop!" Crystal cried out and the other two girls paused looking back at her.

"What?! We're going to get attacked by Peeves if we don't keep running!" Shana growled at their roommate.

"No…" Crystal panted, "The cackling…has stopped," she groaned, bending over to place her hands on her legs to gulp air in deeply.

Shana began to advance toward Crystal as though to drag her along, but Kitty grabbed her arm shaking her head, it was too dangerous to move before they knew where Peeves was. After taking a huffy breath, Shana turned away from the other two and crossed her arms. Kitty looked all around her, and it was true that the noise had stopped, but it was a rather eerie silence. The enchanted paintings surrounding them were neither making a sound nor even moving. That was when Kitty saw the orange eyes glowing from one of the large paintings on the wall of a nobleman; she knew him to be Horace's father from his stories.

"Run!" Kitty called out again, and the cackling immediately resumed.

Shana gave each of the others a death glare, as though telling them she had known this would happen and they had gotten her into this mess. Crystal groaned and almost began to cry, but started to run just slightly behind the other two, more physically fit girls.

"Well caught, little miss firsty," Peeves's voice almost sounded reverent for a moment, but then the cackling began to grow in volume again.

Kitty had to tune out all noise, paying attention to only what was in front of her. Still, she chanced a peek behind her to see Crystal falling behind, and slowed allowing Shana to run past. She didn't stop and kept running, turning around a corner and away. Kitty sprinted back to Crystal, despite all her instincts demanding her to run the opposite way.

"Come on, we have to keep running or he'll catch us!" Kitty encouraged the winded Crystal.

"I'm trying!" Crystal huffed, desperately trying to keep up with Kitty as they ran up the stairs.

Suddenly, out of the wall next to them Peeves popped his head out and threw a painting at Crystal. She ducked just in time to avoid being hit. The girls continued rushing up the steps until...

_Whomp!_

"Ouch!" Kitty and Crystal landed on the ground, just as the two boys they had run into.

"Fred! George! What are you two doing here?" Kitty puffed, both surprised and winded, but forgetting her former issue.

"We heard about what happened at the library, some kid named Lee ran into us and almost fainted, when we were coming to get you from your study session," Fred explained, "He said it seemed like Peeves is trying to send us a message."

"That he is," Kitty grabbed both of the twins' arms and took off again.

"Peeves came at us, so we had to run." Crystal panted in apology.

"Don't worry, little firsty girls. The boys will know their tricks better now!" Peeves cackled and it raised the hairs on Kitty's arms.

"Turn left!" George shouted as they got to a fork in the stairs but he pulled the girls to the right, Fred turning right even before the exclamation had left George's lips.

Everyone turned right, except for Peeves.

"Nice one, good way of confusing someone," Fred praised his brother.

They heard the cackling even louder now, as though Peeves had doubled his efforts. He appeared again, but this time the four students had to stop in their tracks as he popped out right in front of them.

"Thought you could trick me did you? Me of all tricksters?" there was an almost menacing glint to his eyes now.

Kitty saw it then, a small movement, nearly impossible to see because the person making it was nearly invisible himself. Horace flew in and along with him was the Bloody Baron. Their ghost friend had come through for them again.

"That's enough Peeves, I've brought the Baron," Horace called out in a voice much more confident than he was feeling.

Peeves immediately wilted, bowing before his master, or however it was he viewed the Baron. Kitty was proud of Horace for standing up to Peeves, since he had always been so afraid of the poltergeist. She hadn't even known the ghost had seen them all being attacked by Peeves. He nodded and bowed like the nobleman he was to his living companions.

"You have caused incredible chaos for the librarian today, Peeves," the Baron's voice sounded large and confident, but at the same time, incredibly sad.

Looking at the Bloody Baron was a lot like looking at depression itself. Despite the fact that he seemed incredibly respected, his eyes never lost the sadness lurking deep within. Even when he himself played pranks, there was still a sadness lurking underneath the gladness of trickery. Kitty wondered at his story, looking into those deep, dark eyes.

She saw something, a forest, a beautiful young girl. There was a task he needed to complete; he was begging now. There was nothing else to do…Suddenly, there was blood blurring her vision.

The Baron again called out, "Enough!" but he was looking at Kitty now, yet only she seemed to notice as Peeves bowed apologizing again.

"I shall not bother the Madam librarian for some time again, I assure you, Sir Baron," he sniveled.

"See that you do not," the sad ghost replied, but with a curious look in Kitty's direction before floating off through a wall.

Peeves looked ominously at the boys, "I want my trick," he almost hissed, and then he was gone.

Horace floated over quickly to his friends. Crystal had recovered her breath now but was shaking with fear. She took Kitty's hand to find comfort. Shana was long gone, and probably back in the Gryffindor Common Room right now, maybe not even waiting for them.

"I apologize that I could not bring the Baron more quickly; he was rather in a foul mood today, having already heard complaints from the librarian who had sent a patronus messenger to entreat his help as well," Horace hung his head in sincere apology.

"You brought him just in time," the twins announced in unison.

"Thank you so much Horace; we didn't even know someone would be coming to save us," Kitty almost reached to comfort the ghost but thought better of it.

"T-t-thanks…" Crystal stuttered, still frightened.

"It was my pleasure, my lady; I have been wanting to call Peeves out since I first delivered the Bloody Baron to save these three from trouble," Horace said, giving Crystal a regal bow before speaking to the others, "I think it best you take this young lady to her rooms now, so she may feel safe again."

"Yes, thank you again, Horace," Kitty smiled at her friend who returned it tenfold.

The trio quickly helped Crystal, getting to the fat lady within minutes and hurrying inside to the common room. Kitty quickly said her goodbyes to the twins before helping Crystal up the winding steps to the Girls' Dormitories. She was happier than ever that their room was on the first landing. When Crystal and Kitty entered the room, they found Shana there already asleep, sleeping as soundly as a dog after eating.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve- An Interview With a Ghost

Horace had only told her the name of the ghost that had agreed to Kitty's interview of her life that weekend. He said he didn't really know much about her, since he'd never been in the vicinity of her living area in life. She spent much of her ghostly time playing in the Hogwarts Lake or through the drainpipes to the girl's bathroom on the first floor, and that was all he really knew.

"How's it possible that she could spend time in the drain pipes, Horace? She surely didn't go through the drain pipes while living did she?" Kitty asked, rather disgusted by the idea.

"Of course not, there were some plan changes in Hogwarts after her death. Since she had gone through the areas that now are taken up by piping, she can go through the pipes now," Horace explained as he floated along beside Kitty and down the stairs.

"How is it then you can pass through walls you didn't pass through while living?" Kitty frowned in deep thought, "The same reason perhaps?"

"I'm not exactly sure myself…We live, or rather don't, on another plane of existence that even we have trouble understanding."

"I see…" Kitty murmured as they stepped down from the stairs onto the second floor landing.

A portrait of Anne Boleyn, a former queen of England sat watching her. Kitty had walked past the portrait many times, but she never understood the look of distaste Anne always seemed to have towards everyone. From her history books she had learned Anne was a squib during King Henry VIII's reign. He eventually had her sentenced to death for being a witch, except she really wasn't one, though it is believed she gave Henry love potions of magical origin. Kitty thought perhaps Anne's look of disdain was a way for her to feel better than all of the witches and wizards who had been born with magic whereas she hadn't. As Kitty walked past the portrait, Anne's eyes followed her.

"Be nice to Myrtle, she can get a little…emotional at times, or so I'm told."

"Wait a minute," Kitty finally realized who Horace was talking about, "Moaning Myrtle? The older girls are always saying not to use this bathroom because she cries and floods it."

"Yes, but don't let her hear you calling her that. We have real names too, you know," Horace warned.

"Oh yes, I know. Sorry, Horace."

"No harm done to me," Horace bowed, "This is where I wait for you, then."

Kitty nodded to her friend before stepping up to the door, taking a deep breath. She pressed her hand against the worn wooden door, which was obviously rotting at the bottom, probably from the flooding Myrtle was so popular for. It was definitely a new experience for Kitty to enter an unknown and rather frightening place all alone. The twins had redoubled their efforts to finish their fireworks for Peeves's trick since the library incidence, and Horace was unable to enter the girl's bathroom, having never been there in life, so she had to do this alone. Myrtle's bathroom door closed with a quiet bang.

The room had the appearance of a keyhole as Kitty looked around. It was large and round on one side with sinks, and on the other side of the room with the stalls, the room was rectangular. The floor had some obvious water damage, some of the bricks were loose and the drains had a lot of calcification and rust. She couldn't see anyone, ghost or human in the area. Then, she heard the sound of flushing and there was a splash of water gushing onto the floor from a bathroom stall. The nearly transparent figure of a young girl, only a little older than Kitty herself, flew onto the large, circular windowsill and sat there with a wry smile on her face.

The stained glass of the window could be seen through the young girl's body, which was slightly unsettling. Her hair and eyes were a darker grey than the rest of her, leading Kitty to believe that Myrtle had been dark-haired with brown eyes in her lifetime. The young witch's ghost wore her school robes with the Ravenclaw insignia sewn onto the right side. A large pair of spectacles sat forward on her nose, and her skin seemed speckled with acne. To Kitty, this ghost seemed even sadder than the Bloody Baron.

"So you've come to hear my story," the thin figure of the lounging girl spoke.

Kitty understood just from her voice how this ghost had earned her nickname. The sentence came out as though she was sobbing, or begging her parents for a candy treat. It was rather an uncomfortable voice to listen to.

"That I have, I'll just get out my quill and book," Kitty explained setting her quill onto the book, which began to write the last few words of her sentence immediately after being placed on the page.

Kitty's mother had given her the voice-writing quill for Christmas after hearing of Kitty's interview plans. The ghost eyed the quill rather suspiciously, before rolling her eyes and returning her gaze to Kitty.

"What would you like to know then?"

"What was your family like?" Kitty ventured, her question almost disappearing with the depressive look crossing Myrtle's face.

"Them…I wish I could have seen them again," her voice broke with sobs, "My mom and dad loved me. They were Muggles you know…I was loved…their only child," Myrtle seemed unable to continue with her choking sobs, "They came to retrieve my body from Armando Dippet, when it happened you know, their only daughter. I was too afraid to show myself to them, but I wanted to say goodbye to them so desperately. Their poor Muggle hearts…wouldn't have been able to take it, I'm sure…"

"I'm sorry, Myrtle…" Kitty felt extreme pity for the sobbing teenager.

"What good does a sorry do?!" Myrtle became angry now, "Don't pity me, it is simply what happened. And now I live, dead, with these memories, though I'd rather leave the Earth most days."

"You don't want to be a ghost?"

"Want? Dear goodness, no! It's awful here. The students make fun of me, Peeves tries to make my days miserable; not that they aren't already; and I have to sit here with my memories."

"Why don't you just…pass on to the next life?" Kitty inclined her head.

"It's not that easy, you see…I want to pass on, but I can't. I'm too afraid. The whole reason I'm here in the first place is that I was afraid to die, and I wanted to live. I didn't want to be forgotten, especially not by a certain girl who was still living."

"And what was it like, while living?"

At this question Myrtle floated down quickly, circling Kitty as she spoke, "It was a dreadful existence. I was so excited to be a Ravenclaw, you see I'd always known I was smart, but the others didn't like me. 'She's too emotional, too needy, too ugly,' they all said," Myrtle sniffed, "and perhaps I was," she sobbed again, "I must have had no friends for a reason."

"The reason being that people are cruel, Myrtle, not that you were flawed."

"Says you, you have friends. I hear about those twins of yours all the time," Myrtle grumped.

Kitty was surprised that Myrtle knew of her, but continued unperturbed, "Yes says I. I had no friends at home in Truscan, except for my sister, but that is because young people are cruel to each other. They chose you to treat badly because they could, not because you are undeserving of friendship," the young ghost was watching Kitty with feigned disinterest now, she'd stopped circling and turned her face away, "Friendship is a right, the people who bullied, and still bully you, just don't understand or respect that."

"Perhaps you are right, but it is the hand I was dealt…" Myrtle sighed sadly.

"Perhaps telling me how you died will help cheer you?"

Myrtle's eyes instantly brightened, "Yes, my death day! I was fourteen you know, it happened right in this very bathroom."

At this, Kitty paled with fear, but Myrtle continued her story, "That cubicle, right over there," Myrtle pointed, "that's where it happened. I'd hidden in here to cry, Olive Hornby had been teasing me about my glasses. Oh, but I made her regret it."

Myrtle made a few more circles in the air. Her body flipped and twisted without any struggle. It was a strange experience seeing what appeared to be a human body changing form the way a ghost's body tended to do. Myrtle sank back down onto the windowsill she'd lounged on before.

"I heard a noise, someone coming in and called out, wondering who it was. I don't think they heard me at all. Then I noticed the person was hissing something, and it sounded like a boy's voice, so I got out to tell him to get out of the girl's bathroom, and then, I died."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," Myrtle sighed with happy remembrance, "I saw a great big pair of yellow eyes, and then I was gone, except I wasn't…I held onto life, didn't want to let go and disappear, even though I was basically already invisible. It took hours before anyone even came looking for me. I know because I sat there waiting for them, right up here on this very window sill…I didn't see who the boy had been, though, but I didn't really care for some reason, lost in my own thoughts…because I wanted to haunt Olive Hornby for the rest of her life. I was planning."

"Eventually, Olive showed up to tease me some more, but then she saw my body lying there cold and motionless. Her reaction was perfect. She ran to me, not understanding, for once in her life feeling guilt and shook me, saying it wasn't funny. So I told her from the window, 'Neither is what you've done to me,' and she fainted right there," a genuine smile appeared on Myrtle's face and she laughed, chilling Kitty to the bone.

"I haunted Olive Hornby until her final days, and then I returned here…to my bathroom. No one really comes around anymore, but I still try not to be forgotten."

"Do you think you'll ever pass on?" Kitty asked with a twinge of concern.

"I don't know," Myrtle replied thoughtfully, "but maybe someday. We'll see."

Kitty emerged from Myrtle's bathroom slightly shaken, her thoughts reeling, but they were broken by Horace's voice, "That seemed like it went well, the bathroom isn't flooded, and I don't hear shrieks."

"That would depend on your definition of something 'going well,'" Kitty replied, returning to her thoughts.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen- Enemies?

Kitty smiled brightly at everyone she passed on her way outside to search for the twins. She even smiled at a passing Slytherin, who looked at her strangely and hurried away. She'd always tried to be kind to the Gryffindor rivals, and the odd look was better than the sneers she sometimes received from the older students. After the Quidditch accident, she happened to get a lot of sneers from the Slytherin Quidditch players. Sure, they'd won the game, but Madam Hooch had given them a rather severe tongue lashing because of their antics.

The boys had said they would be traveling into the forest and their roommate Thomas had already left to find them, at Kitty's request. She figured the twins must have exited the forest already, to avoid being seen or having their trick ruined. The two were overly excited about the trick, they were almost ready and didn't want it to be found out.

Kitty was excited to see them and show off her new hair cut. Shana had offered, saying it would look absolutely adorable. Kitty hadn't been so sure, but Shana had insisted that Kitty allow her to cut her red hair. She had gotten it shortened to just below her chin and the back of her hair was cut in an inwards slant. She found the twins and Thomas under a tree, close to Hagrid's house.

"I don't know if it'll do much good to go in again during the day. You never find anything. There's no way you'd get to see a werewolf during the day time anyway," Thomas was reasoning with the twins.

Clearly the twins had created a cover story so Thomas would not find out about the fireworks. They wanted it to be the biggest surprise and prank in Hogwarts history. Kitty knew that someday they would be pranking legends.

"I know. I think it's about time we went in the dark," Fred shared.

"I don't think you want to actually run into a werewolf," Kitty smiled, lying on her stomach in the grass next to Thomas, across from Fred.

"Hi there, Kitty. You know that's exactly what we're hoping for," George greeted her with a quick wink, without really looking at her; she rolled her eyes.

The twins were looking at their crude map of the forest. They'd drawn it themselves after several visits into the forest, marking danger areas in red and interesting areas in green. Regular paths were marked in black. She was rather proud of their dedication to their trickery; a dedication that they didn't show when it came to their schooling. Which was not to say that the two weren't academically clever, they were simply more interested in other things.

"I like your hair cut," Thomas smiled at her, and the twins looked over at her finally noticing as well.

"Thanks, Thomas. I was afraid it was a little too short."

"No, it's perfect; you look great."

Kitty noticed a strange look on Fred's face at Thomas's words. Thomas reached out, as if to stroke her hair, so she scooted away slightly. An uncomfortable smile crossed her face.

"Sorry, I don't like it when people touch my hair," she explained and saw Fred smile.

"I think Kitty might be right about the werewolves," Thomas said to the twins, changing the subject back to the matter at hand.

"I want to see a werewolf. We only saw a unicorn today," George complained.

"You saw a unicorn!" Kitty exclaimed, "I want to see one so badly!"

"Then you should come with me sometime," Thomas smiled widely at her.

"Thanks for the offer," she smiled back and noticing Fred's face scooted further away from him, "I think I'll pass though."

"I would love to!" a peppy voice came from nearby and soon Shana settled herself between Kitty and Thomas, nearly touching him.

"Uh, yeah I could take you too, I guess," Thomas mumbled disappointedly.

Shana frowned, "Well…how do you like Kitty's haircut?" she asked, an expectant look on her face.

"It's gorgeous," Thomas replied, "She always is."

Shana's face clearly fell, "Why…yes, she is," she almost spat the words with hate and Kitty and the twins exchanged confused glances.

"I was worried it would look weird, but Shana insisted," Kitty said, playing with her shorter hair with an insecure smile.

"It really does look lovely, Kitty," Fred smiled, reassuring her.

Shana let out an exasperated sigh and took Kitty by the arm, "We should get back to Crystal; she wanted help with her History of Magic essay."

"Did she really? She didn't say anything to me earlier," Kitty pressed her eyebrows together, clearly confused.

"Well she told me when she left," Shana rolled her eyes and pulled Kitty along, "Come on."

As the two walked away they caught snippets of the conversation from the three boys.

"She's really cute." Thomas smiled, watching them go.

"Shana? Yeah I guess she's nice," Fred said in an unconcerned tone.

"No, Kitty. You think she likes me? I'd like to take her into the forest, just us. You know what I like most about her? She's so polite and soooo smart. I mean seriously, she's a genius."

Fred sat plucking blades of grass glumly, and Kitty stopped Shana so she could hear what the boys were saying, "Who wouldn't like her..." he mumbled darkly, "She's perfect."

"I know right!" Thomas exclaimed, completely oblivious to Fred's change in mood, "I think I'll invite her to my house this summer! Then we can hang out."

George looked at his brother with concern and interrupted Thomas's planning, "That's wonderful, Thomas, but I don't think she's really interested," George placed his wand in his pocket and stood.

"Why not? Has she said something?"

"No, she hasn't. At any rate, Fred and I have to go. We have a detention to attend," Fred looked up at his brother confused, and George nodded.

"I don't know why you even go to your detentions. It'd be quite the story if you didn't."

"Well," Fred chimed in, "if you do the crime you have to do the time. We may be troublemakers but," George interrupted, "we're troublemakers with class."

"We'll see you later, Thomas," George waved as he led his brother away.

Shana yanked Kitty along now, but not before she heard the last of the twins' conversation.

"We don't have a detention today," Fred whispered to George.

"I know."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen- A Night Of Fireworks

The greenhouses were tucked away on the Hogwarts grounds under the two main bell towers. Kitty enjoyed hearing the tolling of the bells when class with Professor Sprout ended on Wednesdays. As first years, the group didn't get to spend time with dangerous plants but rather the safer kind, which many of the magical born students already knew about. Some were not very fond of the class because of this, including the twins, who often helped their mother in the yard, but today, they were going to grab their last needed supplies from the first years' green house.

Professor Sprout greeted each of the students as they entered the humid building. It was enchanted, so as not to feel dreadfully hot, but students still would not wear long sleeves or coats into the wet and heated air. It was a long glass building with various plants on the ground and tables, some in pots, some attached to the furniture, which Professor Sprout and the students cared for. The space was filled with magical plants of all colors, ranging from pale yellows to vivid purples.

Kitty quickly found her way to her table, carrying her final exam plant known as a Mimphil. The bright red flower moved its petals, forming a smile with its leaves to greet its caregiver. Kitty stroked the petals gently and a soft purr came from the plant's roots. This plant was a form of "pet plant" or magical plant that witches and wizards liked to keep for company purposes only. Kitty was very happy that this wasn't a medicine plant, since it was so dear and happy that she couldn't bear someone chopping it up. Maybe Professor Sprout would let her take it home after the end of term.

"Now students," Professor Sprout's cheery voice filled the greenhouse as the plump witch made her way from table to table, "I shall be doing a minor examination of your projects in order to give you advice for your final. This will be the only time I will offer you more help in the matter, so listen very carefully." By now Professor Sprout had made it to the back of the greenhouse and called out in surprise, "Masters Weasley, what are you doing at the Fraptious table? Your projects are further up aren't they?"

"Oh, sorry," Fred replied and Kitty saw him handing something to George, which was hastily placed in a pocket, "I just love Fraptious plants, my mother likes us to care for them at home."

"I see," the Professor replied suspiciously, eyeing the two with their charming smiles, "Well get back to your own stations for now if you please."

When the bells rang to signal the next hour, all of the Herbology students filed out of the greenhouse. The twins and Kitty found a secluded corner near one of the bell towers to discuss their final plans for the capture of the map Peeves had talked about. The boys were aglow with excitement.

"We've got the perfect chance tonight with Astrology finals coming up," George whispered gleefully.

"Professor Sinistra will gladly allow us some extra time to stare up at the constellations we're studying, so we can connect them on our final in the coming weeks," Fred agreed, "and then, when we've done that, we'll make our way down to Filch's office instead of up to the Common Room."

"Sounds good to me, but we'll have to make sure he's not anywhere near his office when you raid it and while you set off the fireworks. How do you suppose we do that?" Kitty challenged the boys.

"We could always use this," Fred picked a small metal ball with a circular hole indicating a button on the top out of his pocket, and Kitty looked at it curiously, "It walks off and makes loud noises when you press the button."

"Where did you get that?!" Kitty imagined them sticking their hands into the "confiscated magics" cupboard in Filch's office, but then realized that's exactly what they were trying to break into now.

"Well, we created it with some items we found around the castle and then bewitched it with a few charms," George explained the process of constructing the ball whilst casting charms to create a magical object.

"I came up with it, and George figured out the logistics of it," Fred stated with a proud puff of his chest.

"That's brilliant Freddy! And you too, of course, George," she exclaimed taking it from him carefully and looking it over.

"Freddy?" George raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, sorry, I meant Fred," she blushed handing the magical item cautiously back to Fred and continued on with the conversation as thought nothing had happened, hoping the two would forget. "So after everyone else should have made it back to their Common Rooms, we leave Professor Sinistra?"

"Exactly, Kit," Fred smirked, of course they wouldn't let that slide, George finished, "and then we execute the plan, Kit."

"We release the noise maker in the Great Hall. As Filch and Mrs. Norris come running, we make our way to Filch's office. The device continues to move around, and rather quickly, once its activated, so it might take him a while to find it."

"Even with Mrs. Norris chasing it like a mouse?" Kitty questioned, and the boys nodded.

"It rolls around a room quickly and effectively, maneuvering around corners and under tables and chairs," Fred turned to George, "That part was all left up to George to figure out."

Kitty chuckled and shook her head, "You know, if you tried harder in classes you'd get Beyond Expectations scores every time."

"But that's too much work, we're fine with our good marks," George started with Fred finishing, "but this is so much more fun."

"So, Wednesday night's the night, huh?" Kitty bit her lip.

"You betcha," the two gleefully cheered.

Professor Sinistra instructed the students in her usual way, up in the astronomy tower at midnight. The sky was particularly clear that night, and the moon shone on the tall witch's dark skin and pointed hat. For the most part this Professor was laid back and quiet, whispering in reverence at the "glories of the galaxy" as she called it. If you ever asked her a question, she would help very little, saying to deduce it yourself from what the stars and planets were telling you.

Professor Sinistra happily let students stay late after her class, but never remembered who had stayed. This led to confusion when students were found out late in the halls on Wednesday nights. They would claim they had stayed late with Sinistra, thus they would end up with only a small warning to hurry back to bed after Astronomy, making it the best night to travel the castle and explore, and the twins liked to take advantage of that.

As class was nearing the end, the three conspirators simply stayed at their telescopes peering into the night sky. Professor Sinistra was too caught up in her own sky studies to pay any mind to the three students, and after about twenty minutes the trio took their leave without a word.

They made their way down the stairs to the Great Hall. By luck, they arrived just in time to catch Filch on his round past, so they quickly released their device. It immediately began to make a racket and both Filch and Mrs. Norris ran after it. The trio then hurried down to his office.

"I forget, do I have a job in all this? I don't really enjoy doing the pranking, you know," Kitty whispered to the twins as they got to Filch's office.

Fred tried the door and found it locked, "Helping us without truly participating is your job, such as opening this door perhaps?" Fred whispered softly.

She quickly removed her wand, unlocking the door easily, and Fred grinned, opening the door with ease before turning to instruct his brother, "Keep watch, George."

"Roger!"

As Kitty and Fred entered the small and dimly lit room, they were immediately hit with a vague and nasty odor of fish. Kitty suspected the scent came from the single oil lamp hanging from the ceiling. Lining the walls were strange chains with cuffs at the end, perfectly polished and well taken care of, causing Kitty to shiver. She'd heard tales of Filch wanting to hang misbehaving students by their ankles or thumbs as punishment, and suddenly she didn't want to be there anymore. Fred was already looking at the cabinets to find the drawer he needed.

"Fred, I want to go back…" she whispered, taking a few steps backwards without removing her eyes from the frightening chains gleaming in the dim lamplight.

Fred crossed the small distance between them and wrapped her into his arms in a tight hug, "Don't worry, I won't let you get in trouble. If Filch comes, you were telling us to get out of here. Okay?" Fred's wasn't joking, and it was comforting in his arms. Kitty raised her head to look up into his eyes.

She nodded quickly and Fred returned to scouting the room. There were multiple file cabinets against the wall. As Kitty inspected them, she saw there was an entire shelf marked, "Fred and George Weasley" and pointed it out to Fred.

"I guess he's started his collection of evidence against us early," Fred chuckled, but then his face became serious again, "but where would he be hiding a magical map."

"Maybe in this one?" Kitty pointed to a cabinet marked "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous" too afraid to touch it herself, "Be careful."

Fred opened the cabinet slowly and peeked inside. There were a few normal items from the joke shop in Hogsmeade like dungbombs, but there were also other things Kitty had never seen before. Most of the items were covered with dust. In the middle of the drawer was a folded piece of paper, apparently with no writing but slightly yellowed with age and from the smudges Kitty could tell it had been handled quite often, at least at some point in time. Fred removed it and gave it to her to examine as he carefully reclosed the drawer. For something marked, "Highly Dangerous" there hadn't been much in it; the drawer hadn't even been locked.

"It's just a piece of paper," Kitty mumbled as she removed her wand, even after unfolding it there was no writing, so Kitty tried a revealing spell, "Revelio!" she whispered, but nothing seemed to happen. She started to fold it up again except then a single sentence appeared, "You are up to mostly good; a trickster's heart is needed."

"A trickster's heart is apparently needed," Kitty wondered aloud before handing the paper to Fred, "Here, you try it."

As soon as Fred muttered the spell, words started to appear, "'Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs invite you to say 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good' to the Maurader's Map to find secrets revealed. When finished, 'Mischief managed,'" Fred read quietly.

The two were silent for a moment before Kitty spoke, "Well, give it a try, Fred."

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Fred whispered with his wand pointed at the middle of the map.

Suddenly, ink began to appear on the page as though it were soaking into the paper. The ink was dark red and black, showing all of the Hogwarts grounds. It was a complete map. The two picked out a few of the secret entrances the twins had found on their own, clearly visible on the map among more entrances they'd never seen or heard of.

With a gasp, the two also noted the sets of footprints, either moving or standing still with names placed underneath. They seemed to name everyone in the school. Fred and Kitty saw themselves in the office standing still, with George out front of the office.

More importantly though, "Filch is coming," Fred pointed to the prints bearing the Hogwarts caretaker's name.

Fred immediately went into action, removing all sorts of brightly colored packages from his pockets and placing them around the room. Each was tied with a long string connected at the end to a loop, which he placed around the doorknob on the inner side of the room. The door was known to swing outward because it often hit students passing by when Filch was in a bad mood.

"We don't have time for all this preparation Fred," Kitty worried.

"Calm down, Kitty, it's all done," Fred said, standing to admire his masterpiece.

"Well, come on, then," after pushing Fred out the door, Kitty quickly exited the frightful room and closed the door to Filch's office carefully relocking it, "As soon as he enters the room those fireworks are going to go off. In the meantime, we should get back to bed so we don't get caught," Kitty fussed.

"Even if we go back to the Common Room we'll be suspect. We have to watch our masterpiece," Fred reasoned.

"We'll probably be interviewed first concerning the matter anyway," George grinned, clearly proud of their reputations.

"Not me!" Kitty hissed softly, trying to keep her voice down.

"Alright, well the map says there's a secret exit over there to the upper floors; we'll watch from there," Fred soothed.

"Oh, can I take a look?" George asked excitedly as the three quickly squeezed into the portrait hole they'd found from the map, but Fred shushed him.

Filch approached his office muttering about the old days of punishment for those who didn't follow the rules. As soon as he opened the door, pulling it wide open in his frustration, he unknowingly triggered the explosion. Red and white lights flashed in the small room as Filch cried out in surprise. It was so loud Kitty was sure the whole castle was awake.

She could hear the complaints of the paintings as they were awoken from their slumbers, and before long they heard the sound of feet clattering down the steps above. The prefects must have already been patrolling nearby, because they were on their way. She pulled the twins along into the side tunnel shown on the map. The two were so excited by their view she had to shove them on their way back to the Common Room.

"That was amazing!" Fred shouted excitedly amidst the bustle of students in the Common Room that had awoken to loud blasts and whines from downstairs, as well as an angry magical announcement from the prefects that had filled the entire castle like a speaker.

Suspicious looks were being thrown in the direction of the twins every few minutes, but since they had already been in the Common Room before the announcement, no one really thought it was possible that the twins could have been behind the stunt. The twins did, however, appear to be extremely proud of themselves for some reason or other, and so there were mixed feelings as to their guilt. A few glances were sent Kitty's way, but it was immediately decided she couldn't possibly have done anything, since she just followed the twins around. Kitty didn't really mind this assumption, other than that she was considered the twins' wet puppy.

At breakfast everyone was discussing the noises from the night before. Many students had rushed out of their beds, along with the prefects, to see what was happening. Kitty smiled over at the boys who were being interrogated by the very irritated and tired Ronda. She couldn't pin it on them, of course, so they were soon seated next to Kitty again, scarfing down their breakfast of eggs as though they were ravenous. Smiling, Kitty thought that they probably were.

Thomas smiled at Kitty from across the table, "It was them, wasn't it?" he asked eagerly.

"That's for us to know and for you not to find out," Fred replied, and Thomas frowned confused before Shana came to drag him away to sit next to her and Crystal, throwing a cranky look in Kitty's direction.

Kitty laid her head on Fred's shoulder, "What about Peeves? Has he come by?"

"Not yet, but I suspect he liked the trick because he's been following Filch around making loud whirring noises and probably will continue to do so the next two weeks. He might not hold his end of the bargain," Fred warned her gently, twisting some of her hair around his finger.

"I expected as much…I'm tired," she smiled softly, "but, I think a night of fireworks and a new map were worth a sleepless night."

Both twins grinned their tricksters' grins and stuck out their chests proudly, earning them another look from Ronda. Shana started laughing overly loudly from her seat next to Thomas, but he wasn't paying attention to her, instead looking at Fred and Kitty. Fred's smile was slightly smug, and Kitty noticed the dark look on Thomas's face.

She sighed, "I think I'll have different troubles to worry about by next year anyway; that will keep me from worrying about the Peeves interview."

Shana threw Kitty another nasty look and attempted a flirtatious look at Fred and George who turned back to excitedly, clearly already planning for next year, "We'll have better tricks, too!" they exclaimed.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen- Until Next Time

Mansha squawked and protested as Kitty put her in the cage and then on the train. It was time to board. After Hagrid helped load her trunks, she found her way to the Gryffindor compartments and into the compartment the twins were holding for her. Fred and George greeted her with a nod as they sat with their noses in the map they were still studying constantly after two weeks of possessing it.

"Find anything yet?" Kitty asked as she plopped onto a red cushioned seat.

"Perhaps," George mumbled, pointing at something.

"I think that's a passage to Honeyduke's," Fred raised his eyebrows, "Maybe a trip for next year?" he asked Kitty.

Before being able to answer their compartment door slid open, "Hey!" Thomas called ecstatically, "Is this spot taken?" He was referring to the empty seat next to Kitty. Fred had quickly closed the map, stuffing it under George's leg. The move had almost seemed choreographed to Kitty, it went so perfectly quickly.

"Thomaaaaas," Shana whined, appearing behind him and wrapping her arms around him, "You promised you would sit with meee."

Kitty made eye contact with the twins and sighed deeply as Shana and Thomas continued their argument with each other. The strange urge to yell, "Get a room" was hard to fight down. Shana kept throwing dirty looks at Kitty, and Fred shifted positions, nestling in next to Kitty on the door's side, blocking Shana's view with his taller frame, and wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Thomas finally gave up.

"Fine, Shana, I'll come sit with you in another compartment," he groaned.

Shana looked triumphant and pranced away dragging Thomas in hand. The curly-haired youth looked defeated next to his curly-haired victor. As the two passed by so did Kitty's other roommate, Crystal, with the same defeated look.

"You could come sit with George, Crystal," Kitty offered.

"Sorry, if I did that she'd never forgive me…" Crystal whispered sadly as she walked away with an almost longing look at Kitty and her happy friendship.

"Don't worry," Fred pulled Kitty's closer with the arm around her shoulder, "She'll be okay, and maybe next year we can get her to spend time with us."

"She's attached to Shana at the hip, even though she treats her badly. I feel like next year will be impossible."

"We'll figure it out…" Fred began, with George finishing, "We'll just have to bring Shana back down to the same level as everyone else."

"What about Thomas?" Kitty sulked.

"Well, we could always send you on a date with him and have it end horribly?" George suggested, and Kitty noticed the twins making eye contact for just a moment before he spoke again, chuckling, "Just kidding that would be horrid.

The trip seemed to be so short. The twins spent the entire time discussing the secret passages and planning potential events for next year. This year's big trick had served a purpose, but apparently the two were just focused on making a bigger trick next year. Before long the trio were close to home.

"I'll send Mansha every week, maybe we can even visit each other," Kitty hoped.

"Brilliant, and we'll send her back every week. Hopefully in one piece," Fred chuckled.

"Well, whatever happens, we stay together," George grinned as the train started to come to a stop.

Kitty heard the scraping sound of metal on metal as the brakes were applied. As the train came to a stop, the students could see their families waving from the platform. Kitty saw her parents waving and Melissa jumping up and down excitedly. Her sister looked even taller than she had during the Christmas breaks.

"Kitty!" Melissa hugged her tightly, even before both of her feet hit the bricks of the platform, "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," she smiled, hugging her family, happy to be home, even though Hogwarts was her second home, her place was still with her parents.

"I heard you didn't win the house cup," her father teased, pretending to be angry.

"No, but I still think she had fun," Helen laid her hand on her husband's shoulder, "We should get her stuff into the car now, dear, you too Melissa."

"Why can't I stay with Kitty?"

"She has to say goodbye to her friends," her mother said, nodding toward the two redheaded boys standing amongst their large family, one looking longingly her way the other looking at his brother with slight confusion.

Kitty ran to the boys and they threw their arms around each other, "I'm going to miss you so much," Kitty whispered sadly, choking back tears.

"Until next time," Fred held her closer.

"You know, we're going to really need you for next year's big trick," George said as he gave her a quick hug and a friendly smile.

"Are you serious?"

"Well, we made a big one, and we're going to have to top it, and we'll need you for that.," the two chuckled in unison.


End file.
